


Danganronpa Revenge

by Mrkas



Series: Danganronpa Stories [1]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types
Genre: Dangan Ronpa Spoilers, Fan Killing Game (Dangan Ronpa), Murder Mystery, New Dangan Ronpa V3 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-31
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:26:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 159,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27305557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mrkas/pseuds/Mrkas
Summary: A massive wall, an unknown school, and a robot bear. Without remembering a single thing about himself, Kai is forced into a killing game by the Headmaster Monokuma. He's petrified, and every day things seem to only be getting worse. No matter what, Kai knows that he can't give in. If they can work together, maybe they can end the killing game!
Series: Danganronpa Stories [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1993603
Comments: 3
Kudos: 7





	1. Prologue: Here We Go Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A massive wall, an unknown school, and a robot bear. Without remembering a single thing about himself, Kai is forced into a killing game by the Headmaster Monokuma. He's petrified, and every day things seem to only be getting worse. No matter what, Kai knows that he can't give in. If they can work together, maybe they can end the killing game!

Screams echoed throughout the small town as I stumbled forward. I didn’t know where my body was going, or if I could even get there. My eyes dragged upwards in an attempt to get my bearings. The town was on fire; buildings were crumbling and collapsing as shrieks continued to fill the air. But I kept moving.

I moved from the streets and into the alleys, hoping to get away from all the smoke descending down about me. _Almost there._ I could feel it. _Almost there._ As I rounded the corner, I could see it. Before me was a small treeline that signaled the outskirts of town. This was my chance to finally make it out. I had never done it before, but tonight was the night. My legs moved more than they had before. My body was with me, driving myself to fly forward.

The buildings fell behind me as I stumbled towards the woods. But the screams had stopped. My body pushed even harder; it knew this was my last chance.

“Kai?” The shrill voice of a young girl called from behind me. I jumped, slowly pulling my body around to face her. The bright orange glow of the village on fire lit up the sky; its brightness was only second to the full moon overhead. I stared at her with a harrowed expression. _I was almost out…_

The girl was crying. She stared at me with wet eyes and red cheeks. “Why? Why are you doing this?” She limped towards me, sniffling with each hobbled step.

I started to back away. My body shook with each increasing step. I couldn’t answer; I didn’t know the answer.

She kept limping forward, as a burning building behind her collapsed. She shrieked, “please! Please, stop this!” She started moving more quickly towards me. “Please!”

I shook my head.

A dark shape moved from behind the fire, stomping towards us. I tried to run, but my body wouldn’t respond. Instead my leg twisted, and I fell backwards. _No, no, I was so close! I was so close!_ The girl turned around, keeping the same expression she gave to me. I closed my eyes, and tried to cover my ears, but the sounds protruded through. The ripping of flesh, and bone breaking under the pressure of a massive jaw. It was as if the sound was amplified just for me.

The stomping reverberated through the ground. It had finished with its meal, and it was coming for me. I kept my eyes closed, hoping that maybe it would be full. Maybe it was done for the night. But the massive hands gripped my body, and I began to ascend into the air. Again, my body moved without warning, and my eyes pulled open. The ugly dog face, matted fur, and large teeth filled my view. It was standing up straight, towering over everything around it.

We stared at each other, my reflection shining in its eyes. There was a few seconds of serene silence, where the beast looked at me as if it was confused. But it made up its mind, and finally dug its claws deep into my stomach. I screamed in pain, but it kept its stare, squeezing even tighter. After it was content seeing me in pain, it went for my neck.

I screamed, and jolted forward, smacking my face against a light but solid sheet of metal. My left hand clasped my forehead as I reeled backwards. After regaining composure, I examined the dark space I was in. It was small, which I had realized when I hit my head, but tall enough for me to fit inside. That wasn’t saying much, but it was still weird. Part of my body also felt cold, right around my chest. There was a small key there, but it wasn’t familiar. I felt around, finding that the entire structure around me was made of metal. My next discovery was a small handle on the front. After a noisy creak of the object moving, the front of this container swung open.

Light invaded my eyes, causing my hand to instinctively slide from my forehead, to my eyes. Even though it was bright, I walked outside, feeling a new sense of freedom. A stretch was in order, and I moved my arms around just to feel what it’s like to not be in a box. As the horrific dream slid out of my thoughts, my situation just started to click for me. I was in what looked like an abandoned classroom. Plants had started to grow along the walls and ceiling, while the windows were covered in dirt. I looked behind me at the locker I had come out of. It was rusty, dented, and probably came from some dump. This wasn’t somewhere I recognized. 

_Where am I? This isn’t my…_ I spun around, trying to spot a way out. _How did I get here? Where is here?_ Panic started to take over, my body jittering in reaction to my uncertainty. _I don’t remember coming here. Was I kidnapped? Am I going to die?_ Before a single thought could even be processed, another one filled its place. My brain was overloading from the sheer amount of questions, and the lack of answers was only making it worse.

While all of this was happening, a second locker next to mine swung open. The person inside yawned before rubbing their eyes. Without even looking around, they just nodded to me and said, “Hey.”

I stared off at them, taking in their entire outfit. It was a full body blue and white striped onesie. The kind with the built in shoes. It happened to be an animal onesie, although I’ve never seen a blue and white bear. Inside the onesie was a boy my age, with shaggy dark brown hair.

They looked away from me for a second, before making eye contact again. “Do you not talk? This whole staring thing is kinda weird.” They put their hand, or was it a paw? The costume also had mittens that you could pull over your hands; these were of course shaped like a bear paw, and even had small plastic claws at the end. They put their _paw_ behind their head and gave me a nervous expression.

“I…” I swallowed, as not having spoken for a while gave me a small lump in my throat. “I-I’m sorry! I just was looking at your outfit.”

He lifted his hands and smirked, admiring himself. “Pretty neat, huh?”

 _I don’t know about that…_ After a few seconds he looked back at me, and raised his eyebrow. “Ah, sorry. It’s interesting!”

He frowned, folding his arms. “Well, you’re wearing something pretty interesting yourself.” He stuck his tongue out as a finisher.

“Well,” I stopped and looked down at myself. I was wearing a ripped gray shirt, and dirt covered khaki shorts. _What the heck?_ My clothes were destroyed! It looks as though I got in a fight with some kind of animal. Pieces of my dream resurfaced, and I almost entertained the thought. The person standing before me gave another confused expression. I put my finger through one of the holes in my shirt. “I guess you're right.”

The boy shrugged and strolled forward. He placed his paw out in front of me. “I guess introductions are in order. I’m Jake Freedman.”

I stared at the open paw for a second before taking it. I shook it for a second, before quickly letting go. “M-My name’s Kai.”

He waited for a second, then tilted his head. “No last name?”

“Oh, sorry. It’s…” I paused thinking back to what my last name is. _Kai… Huh. I’m Kai…_ The boy patiently waited as I struggled to remember what my last name was. “I… don’t remember.”

“Okay,” he mumbled before returning to a natural smile. “Just Kai is fine.”

I nodded, struggling to remember that key detail about myself. _I’m Kai... I’m Kai._

“So, any idea where we are?” Jake’s question pulled me out of thought and back into the more important situation. I’m in a random place I don’t know, probably far away from home. _Home… Where is that?_

Jake ignored my non-answer and started to talk out loud. “Because I was heading off to school, and this _sorta_ looks like a school.” He looked around the room, running his fingers along the wall, and feeling the plants. “Although, I don’t know if this is what I had in mind…”

 _I don’t think I was going to school. Or was I? I guess I should have been going to some school…_ I looked around the room. Jake was right, this isn’t like any school I had ever seen. This place looked more abandoned than anything else. If I had to guess, I’d say people hadn’t lived here in years. My attention was pulled back to Jake, who was still investigating. “What school were you going to?”

He smirked, raising his hands smugly. “Oh, you know, the Ultimate Academy.” He closed his eyes and nodded to himself. It was almost like I was supposed to know what he was talking about. _The Ultimate Academy?_ _Does that ring any bells? No, I surely wasn’t enrolled there._

Jake opened his eyes and pouted. “Really? Nothing?” He rolled his eyes and turned around. “It’s a pretty big deal.” He sounded hurt.

I jogged over, and tried to get in his vision. “Sorry, I’ve never heard of that school. I’m sure it’s a really good one though!” He stopped trying to avoid my gaze and instead turned to me with an almost disgusted expression.

“You’ve never heard of the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Students?”

I shook my head, really not knowing.

“It’s only the most prestigious school on the planet.” His expression went back to normal. “The best of the best come from all over the country to hone in on their Ultimate Talents. You can’t just be good at something, you need to be the _best_.” He shook his head. “It’s insane that you don’t know this.”

Jake was interrupted by a chime coming from inside the lockers. Both of our eyes were drawn to the cages we originally came out of. Jake moved first, quickly jogging over to his locker and opening the door. Instead of looking in mine, I peered over his shoulder. There was a light coming from the pack of the container. It was a small screen, showing a circle with symbols inside. It looked like a star, and some sort of knife. On top of the ring was a crown with a chain attached to it. On the bottom of the ring was a bit of text that read “High School.” 

“We are in the Academy!” Jake said excitedly while reaching into the locker. He picked up the screen, which was actually a part of a tablet left in the locker. When he picked it up, the symbol on the screen slowly fizzled away. What appeared instead was a blue and white background, with text saying “Hi, Jake Freedman!”

He then started playing with the pad. Jake moved to one of the middle icons on the screen, which was a picture of two people. ‘Student Information” flashed on the screen before a list appeared. Jake was at the top of the list, with multiple rows of “???” following his name. He tapped on himself, and a small bio of himself came up. There was a picture of himself in his current outfit, with his name at the top. The rest of the information as outlined in a column.

“See, I told you.” He turned around his tablet and showed it to me.

Jake Freedman

Height - 5’8

Weight - 149lbs

Blood Type - AB

Birthday - August 5th

Ultimate Ability - Lucid Dreamer

_Ultimate Lucid Dreamer? Can that be considered a talent?_ I looked around the screen trying to find any more information I could. The only other thing worth noting was the text “MONOPAD - Ultimate Academy e-Handbook,” which was on the side of the screen. _I guess they really are in the Ultimate Academy._ I nodded to him. “S-So, your talent is lucid dreaming?”

He nodded back to me, turning his device back around. “Yep. Whenever I fall asleep, I immediately wake up again in the dream world. I can control everything, and do whatever I want.” He paused, “it’s pretty cool.”

We shared another short silence before the chime could be heard again from my locker. _What? There can’t be one of those in there for me, can there?_

“Oh yeah!” Jake held a warm smile. “If you’re here with me, and this is the Ultimate Academy, then you have to be an Ultimate too!” The warmth in his smile faltered for a second before returning to its full state. “Why’d you lie about being an Ultimate?”

 _No. That’s not it._ My words started to twist in my mouth as I tried to form them. Once again Jake waited patiently for me to speak. “I-I really don’t know anything about this school. I’m really not a-an Ultimate!”

Jake examined me carefully. Instead of saying anything, he stepped to my locker and opened the door. In the back there was another Monopad. Jake slowly swung his arm towards the door, as if to signal me to get it. _But that can’t be mine? I’m not an Ultimate. I’m Kai._

I stepped forward into the locker, and picked up the tablet. Just like for Jake, the symbol on the pad melted away. It was replaced by “Hi, Kai Okami!” My brain felt a pulse that went through my entire body. _I’m Kai Okami._ Flashes of the dream started to resurface. Each of them lunged at me trying to take a bite. _I’m Kai Okami._

Instinctively, I clicked the student information. The name Kai Okami sat at the top of the list, just like Jake. I shakily tapped my name.

Kai Okami

Height - 5’3

Weight - 100lbs

Blood Type - O

Birthday - September 15th

These were all things I didn’t know about myself. _My blood type is O? My birthday is September 15th? Why don’t I remember these things? Am I supposed to be at this school?_ Thoughts once again controlled my brain, pulling me away from reality. _Who am I? Why can’t I remember?_

My eyes pulled down the line “Ultimate Ability.”

Ultimate Ability - ???

“What is it?” Jake asked, trying to peer around me to see the monitor. “What’s your talent?”

“I don’t know.” I answered honestly, not knowing what else to say. _Do I have an Ultimate Ability? Or am I just some person?_

“What do you _mean_ you don’t know? It says it right there!” He pulled the Monopad out of my hands and read through my information. “Question marks?” he gave me an angry look as he pushed the pad into my hands. “What the hell is this? Where is your talent?”

I shook my head, still not knowing what to say. If I had known I would tell him. 

“Well?” His voice got more harsh, his frustrations coming out. “What’s your talent?”

His eyes pierced through me, but I just stood there. What could I say? “I-I’m really sorry! I don’t k-know.”

Jake examined me again, then sneered. He then placed his arm over his mouth before turning around and pacing. “You mean to tell me that you’re an Ultimate that doesn’t know his talent?”

I nodded sheepishly, doing my best to avoid his gaze.

He sighed, and then put his hand on my shoulder. “Sorry for yelling before. If even the Monopad doesn’t know what your talent is, I guess I can’t expect you to.”

I looked up at him, and he was back to his normal self. He was no longer upset, and I was extremely grateful for that.

“Well Kai, where are you from?”

“I’m…” Another question came through without me even thinking about it. I didn’t know. _Again,_ I didn’t know. 

Jake watched my expression go blank again, and his face became extremely concerned. “Don’t tell me…”

I placed my hands on my head, thinking as hard as I could. _I’m Kai Okami. Ultimate at the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Students. I used to live…_ But there was nothing. Instead of memories, what came back was pieces of the dream. Whenever I tried to think about my past, that was the only thing that came up. _Unless…_ I pushed that thought out of my mind. It was just a dream after all.

I looked back at Jake, who was frozen waiting for me to answer. “Yeah, I don’t remember.”

He took a deep breath, taking a second to lightly tap on his head. “Okay Kai, what do you remember? Literally anything about before you came here.” he put his hand on my shoulder. “Think hard.”

And I did. Even with the pieces of the dream coming back, I thought as hard as I could. _Who am I? What do my parents look like? Where do I live? What do I like to do?_ But no matter how hard I thought, nothing came. I didn’t remember a single thing about myself from before today. The dream was the last thing I could remember.

I shook my head. “Sorry Jake, I don’t remember anything before today.

Jake scratched his head. “Damn, did you hit your head on the locker or something?” He laughed to himself for a few seconds before seeing my face. “What?”

“I-I really did hit my head on the locker.” 

“How hard?”

“Not too hard, but it kinda hurt.” I rubbed my forehead to see if there was any pain. I could still sorta feel it.

Jake looked closely at my head, squinting to get a good look. “I don’t see anything. If you hit your head hard enough to lose your memories, then I think there would be a noticeable bump.”

“I guess so.” _But what if I really lost my memories when I hit the locker? What if I never get them back? They should have come back by now, right?_

Jake turned around and trained his eyes on a door at the edge of the room. “Honestly, not much we can do about it right now. I’d say we should leave this room and get some more answers from the teachers.”

 _Teachers! Yes!_ I followed his line of sight to the door. _If we’re in an academy, there will be teachers. They have to know who I am! Maybe they can even help me get my memories back._ “Great idea, Jake!”

He smirked. “Well, I try to have the best ideas. Besides, we need to look out for each other.” He motioned to the door. “Lets go.”

I followed him, but my brain was thinking about what he said. “We need to look out for each other.” That idea made me so happy. Not only was I going to find out who I was, but I found a friend along the way! It was nice to have someone looking out for me.

We exited the room, and walked out into a hallway. It was almost exactly like the room we had just been in, dirt and plants covered the walls. It wasn’t just the classroom, but the whole building that looked dilapidated. To our left was a staircase going down, but there was a sort of gate covering it. Out right was a long stretch of hallway. Without even going anywhere, I could tell the building was pretty large. With staircases and long hallways, I knew that it had to be a school.

Jake looked at the staircase for a second before changing his attention to the hallway. “We should stick to this floor first. It doesn’t look like we can get down there anyway.”

I silently nodded, and we walked down the hallway. Although I was still paying attention, Jake had his eyes glued to the walls. He walked back and forth, feeling around them. I didn’t know what he was looking for, but he was obviously looking for something.

After a small distance of walking, we entered into a decently sized open room. There was a small walkway that went around the outside of the space. But the bigger section was about three times the size as the room we were in before, with a much taller ceiling. I could barely see, but it looked as though there was a second, and possibly third floor that overlooked this room. It wasn’t surprising to me that a school would have multiple floors, but it was a nice change of pace to have an open room. I had only been there for a little while, and I was already starting to feel claustrophobic. 

Jake took an interest in the room as well, trying his best to get a view of the balcony. When he was finished trying to do that, his gaze was caught by a set of double doors at the edge of the room. Maybe this was what he was looking for, because he quickly sped over to the doors. But before he could get there, he was stopped by the sound of voices behind us.

“You’re a _fucking_ moron!” The yelling carried itself from down the hallway onto us, causing both Jake and I to spin around. We moved further down the hallway, and saw two boys standing there arguing.

One boy covered his mouth in shock. “Oh wow, I don’t think you’re allowed to curse at school! What if someone hears you?” The boy, who was wearing a navy blue suit jacket and white pants shook his head. “Tsk, tsk. Breaking the rules on your first day? I shouldn’t even be seen with you!”

“Shut up. Shut up. _Shut up_!” The second boy was wearing a black vest, with a purple collared shirt. He was pulling at dark hair that already had flicks of gray in it.

The one in the suit jacket turned to us as we approached, and directed the other to us. “Ah, here they are now. You’re done for.” He shook his head, trying to hide the massive smirk on his face.

“They aren’t teachers! The one in the rags looks eleven, for fucks sake!” 

I looked over at Jake, then down at myself. My face heated up as I averted my eyes. _Why do my clothes look like this? It’s not very fair that everyone else gets nice jackets…_

“Hey, asshole.” Jake pointed at the guy in a vest. “His name’s Kai, and at least he doesn’t look like a pedophile.” 

Without giving him even a second to process, the boy in the suit jacket started screaming. “Ohhhhhhhhhhhh!” He ran around in circles for a second before jogging over to Jake with his hand up for a high five. Jake gave him a half hearted high five, and turned to me. “One for you too!” I gave him his high five, and he stretched out his hand. “Name’s Zach Costar, and I’m the Ultimate Lucky Student.”

I finally pulled my eyes up and was able to get a good look at him. The suit jacket he wore had a gold stitched four leaf clover on the front pocket, and was matched with a lighter blue tee shirt. He had a wide smile, and dark brown messy hair. I took his hand and questioned, “lucky student?”

“See?” The other person shouted, walking their way over to me. “Even he thinks your _talent_ is bull! Being lucky isn’t a talent.” This one had large round glasses, and a gold pocket watch strung around his neck.

“It _is_ my Ultimate talent.” Zach said with his tongue stuck out. “That’s why I was invited to the Ultimate Academy.” He raised his hands up and looked around, waving at the building around them.

“We’re _not_ in the Ultimate Academy.” The nameless boy gritted his teeth at Zach. “They’d never accept someone as loud and annoying as you.”

“Actually,” Jake said with a wide smirk, “this is the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Students.”

Zach started to giggle, and the unnamed boy turned around slowly to face Jake. “Oh yeah? And how do _you_ know that?”

Jake raised his eyebrow and pulled out his Monopad. “These tablets?” He pressed the on button, and what can now be guessed is the Ultimate Academy’s logo came up. Jake tapped the side of the screen, where the words “Ultimate Academy e-handbook” were listed.

“W-Where did you get that?” The boy stammered, anger building up in his face.

“They were in the lockers we woke up in.” Jake answered coolly. He motioned to me, “Kai has one too. We’re locker buddies.”

Zach put his hand on the other boy's shoulders. “If they’re locker buddies, then that must mean that we’re toilet buddies!”

“Don’t touch me.” He shoved off Zach’s hand, and stormed off into a room on the right.

“Dude’s a real grouch.” Zach chuckled as he watched the door close. “That’s the men’s room. We both woke up in separate stalls of the room.” He shrugged. “I don’t think he was very happy about that.”

Jake shrugged as well before his eyes were caught by a staircase at the end of the hallway. It was heading up, and was probably how you got to the second floor balcony that they saw before. He silently drifted towards the staircase, leaving Zach and I.

“Y-You should probably go get your Monopad too.” I said, not sure if I was comfortable with Zach yet. He seemed nice enough, but his energy was hard to keep up with.

“Huh?” Zach asked, squinting at me.

I showed him my Monopad and tapped it. “Ours were in our locker, so yours is probably in that bathroom stall.”

Zach smacked himself on the top of the head. “Of course! No wonder whiny raced off into the bathroom! You’re a genius…” He trailed off, his smile turning into a frown. “What’s your name again?”

“K-Kai.” 

“Kai! Thank you, Kai. You’re the best of the best. Does anyone ever tell you that?” 

I shook my head before realizing that I wouldn’t have remembered if someone did. 

“Well there’s a first for everything!” He spun around and flung himself at the bathroom. In a similar high energy movement, he swung open the door. Zach stepped one foot inside, and then stopped. “Oh, Kai. You don’t have to stand there! Come on in, if you want.” He gave me a short wave and then slid inside.

Instead, I decided to follow Jake, as I could imagine what was inside a bathroom. My body instinctively moved away from the door. Zach could swing it open at any time. But what I wasn’t expecting was that the door next to it would swing open. The girl’s bathroom was situated right next to the boys. And out of that door came a girl in a mint green long sleeve collared shirt, and black pants.

“Come on, Jazz!” She shouted, looking behind her into the bathroom. “There’s so much to explore, so many questions unanswered.” She peered around the hallway, spotting me. “We’re only scratching the surface!” The girl slinked forward, and tapped furiously on her Monopad. She had a fanny pack around her waist, and a pen in her front shirt pocket.

“I’m Jolly Hawkins.” She didn’t make eye contact until she was done typing. “You can read all about me in the information section. Monopad please.” She stared at me for a few seconds, as if expecting something from me. “Monopad, please.”

I nodded and pulled out my tablet, extending it out to her. She tapped it with her own, and both devices dinged. The screen lit up with a notification saying “Student Information Updated.” I quickly tapped through the screens and saw a new name had been added to my listing.

Jolly Hawkins

Height - 5’3

Weight - 125lbs

Blood Type - A

Birthday - February 14th

Ultimate Ability - Journalist

She was the Ultimate Journalist, although I couldn’t get that from her outfit. But then again I wasn’t sure what an Ultimate Journalist should wear. Maybe a news station logo?

“Hmm, Kai Okami. Blood type O, birthday in September, Ultimate....” She looked up from her pad again, this time wearing a frown. “What’s this? It says you’re the Ultimate question mark. Is that a mistake?” She tried peering over my Monopad to see what it said. 

I tapped back onto my own name and showed her. My pad said the same thing. “Sorry, I don’t know what my Ultimate Talent is.” I averted my eyes from her, expecting to be yelled at.

“Incredible!” She grabbed my shoulders, a wide smile pulled across her face. “Has this ever been recorded? An Ultimate that doesn’t know their own talent?” She turned around and put her hand over her chin. “You sir, may be one of a kind. Could be the first ever! I personally have _never_ heard of something like this!” She turned back around and grabbed my hand with hers. “Truly an honor Kai, truly an honor!”

I smiled and shook her hand; I wasn’t sure what to say. _It doesn’t feel like an honor. Everyone else has interesting talents, and I’m just here with a big question mark over my name._ A sigh slipped out. _I guess it’s better that nobody knows my talent, as opposed to it being something dumb and boring._

“Jazz! You gotta see this!” Jolly shouted back to the bathroom, and ran inside. A few moments later she emerged pulling another girl out. She was tall, with a neon green and pink dress. Her hair was dirty blonde, and her face had a pair of lenseles LED glasses that matched her outfit. There also was a pair of headphones she was holding tightly against her ears as Jolly dragged her out. She looked more annoyed than anything else 

“Jazz, this is Kai! He doesn’t know his talent. It’s that amazing?” Jolly pointed to me. Jazz looked down, unimpressed. Jolly continued to prod at her. “Jazz do the thing with the Monopad.”

After a few seconds of Jazz not responding, Jolly spun her around, revealing a small backpack on Jazz. She unzipped it and pulled out what I could only assume was Jazz’s tablet. Jolly tapped the device onto mine and once again it dinged. “Student Information Updated.”

I navigated to the student menu and looked at Jazz’s info.

Jazz Veranda

Height - 5’8in

Weight - 150lbs

Blood Type - A

Birthday - October 26th

Ultimate Ability - DJ

After I was finished reading her information, I gave her a nod. She stared at me for a second before turning to Jolly. “Are we done?”

Jolly frowned for a second, before responding. “Nope! We’ve only _just_ started.”

“Then I’m leaving.” Without letting Jolly respond, Jazz started to walk away towards the staircase. Jake was also starting to walk back now, and outstretched his hand to her. I couldn’t hear what was said, but his face twisted from a smile to shock. Jazz then stepped around him and rounded the corner to the right.

“Who was that bitch?” Jake asked, turning around to see if she was still behind him.

“Jazz Veranda, Ultimate DJ.” Jolly responded with a matter of fact tone.

“And who is this…” Jolly glared at Jake as he spoke, and he stopped his sentence. “Person.”

She rolled her eyes. “Nice save. I’m Jolly Hawkins, you can read the rest on my information page.” She tapped her Monopad with the one in his left hand. 

As his information updated, Jake’s eyes widened. I reached over and tapped my tablet to his. Our Monopads dinged, and I finally got Jake’s information added to my pad.

“So that’s how you add people.” Jake stared at his device in awe. “I probably should have realized that before.”

The door to the boy’s bathroom flew open, and Zach exited. “Guess who has their very own tablet!” He danced his way out into the hallway, holding the tablet above his head. “ _Luckily_ for me, it was exactly where Kai said it would be.” He pointed to me. “My man!” Zach strolled over to the group. “And who do we have here?”

“Jolly Hawkins! Please feel free to read the rest of my information on your Monopad!” Somehow, she had not gotten tired of repeating the same thing. She tapped her device to Zach’s. Jake and I followed next.

Zach Costar

Height - 5’6in

Weight - 130lbs

Blood Type - AB

Birthday - July 11th

Ultimate Ability - Lucky Student

“Woah, that’s pretty cool.” Zach did his own scrolling through the tablet, seeing what new people he had just met.

But he wasn’t lying about being the Ultimate Lucky Student. _I guess luck really is a talent?_ I thought about it, wondering what that really meant. _Is he lucky all the time? Or does he just generally have good luck? Like if he bought a lottery ticket, would he have a higher chance of winning? A guaranteed chance?_

“So, Zach.” Jake looked up from the pad. “Ultimate Luck is pretty vague. Does it mean that if you were in a car crash or something, that you would probably come out unscathed?” Jolly’s eyes came off of her Monopad, as she eagerly awaited the response.

Zach shrugged. “Probably, I don’t really think that deep into it. All I know is that my girlfriend is watching out for me. Whatever I do, I’m sure to have good luck.”

“Girlfriend?” Jake asked, not understanding where he was going with this.

A smirk came across Zach’s face. “Oh, you may have heard of her. Lady Luck.” He posed, as if he was being showered with compliments. 

Jolly stepped forward, typing frantically on her Monopad. “I’m going to need a more detailed explanation as to how Lady Luck is your girlfriend.”

He chuckled. “Oh you know.”

“Nope, but I would like to!” Jolly stepped closer, practically sticking her face in Zach’s.

“Figure of speech, I’m getting there.” Zach rested himself against the wall, and put his hands on his face. “One day we just met. Hit it off of course. Ever since, Lady Luck and I have been inseparable! She takes care of me.” He looked upward and smiled. “I never had to worry about anything, and I never will.”

Jake and I stared at him with blank expressions, not really knowing what any of that meant. Jolly on the other hand, typed into her tablet while nodding.

The boys bathroom door slid open, and the person with the vest stopped. “Ugh, you’re _still_ here?”

Zach turned around and smiled. “Of course, bud! I wouldn’t just leave you behind.”

“I’m not your bud.”

“Well, I don’t know your name.” Zach outstretched his hand. “I’m Zach Costar, and you?”

“Didn’t say.” The boy pushed past Zach, and eyed down everyone else. His Monopad was in his hands, and Jake noticed this. He quickly stepped forward and tapped his tablet onto the other boy’s.

“Hey! What the _fuck_ are you doing?” The kid stepped backwards with a scowl on his face, as both their devices dinged.

“Hmm,” Jake began to read from his Monopad. “Morton Prince, Ultimate Hypnotist.” 

Morton’s eyes widened as he quickly looked at his screen. He obviously had no idea that tapping pads would reveal his information.

“Morton, can I see your Monopad?” Jolly asked with an innocent expression. “Just for a second!”

He stepped away, clutching his tablet. “No.”

“Aww, come on…” She started to step slowly towards him. “Just a second.”

“No!” He shouted, and then sprinted away down the hallway.

Zach slumped his shoulders. “Jolly, you scared him away!” He frowned and reached out, as if trying to pull Morton back.

Jake turned his Monopad around to the group. “Gather around, I have all the information you need, right here.”

Jolly, Zach and I crowded around the Monopad, and read Morton’s info.

Morton Prince

Height - 5’4in

Weight - 154lbs

Blood Type - B

Birthday - December 8th

Ultimate Ability - Hypnotist

Jolly typed that information down manually. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“No problem, no problem, no problem” he said, holding his hands up in front of himself. “So shall we keep exploring the school? I took a look up ahead and saw a lot more to the right.”

Jolly nodded, “absolutely. I would really like to see the whole school before the end of the day.” She went to a different app on the Monopad, showing a map. There was a small dot on the map marking the location they were currently at. “It looks like the Monopad automatically reveals locations we have already been to.” Everywhere besides the girls bathroom and this hallway was greyed out. “Actually, now that we’re on the topic, can someone go into the men’s bathroom with my tablet? It would be a shame to not get the full map.”

Zach grabbed her tablet, and quickly ran in and out of the bathroom. When he came back, the boy’s bathroom was now marked on the map. 

“Spectacular!” Jolly tapped on the bathroom, hoping to see if there was any extra information. But instead, all of our devices dinged. A notification came up across the screen. 

“School Announcement”

“All students please meet in the gym for an assembly! Note: The gym will be marked on your map. Please follow it to the destination, and don’t get lost.”

Suddenly, another part of the map became visible. On the opposite side of the building, right behind the room that we had come out of, was the gym. It had a little icon showing a basketball. It was also worth noting that the room that Jake and I originally woke up in _was_ a classroom. It had a desk and chair symbol, and also the letter A.

“I guess we’re going to the gym.” Jake confirmed, looking around the rest of the group.

Jolly nodded excitedly. “Perfect, we’ll be able to see almost the entire first floor on our trip there! I think we should stop inside each of the rooms, just to get them on our maps.”

 _Do we really want to be late on our first day?_ I looked to Jake for help, hoping that he would understand. “I-I don’t know…”

“Kai’s right. We don’t want to be late.” He nodded to me. “I’m sure we’ll have plenty of time to explore the school after the assembly.”

“What a waste.” Jolly pouted, and started to drag her feet in the direction of the gym. “If we’re early I’m gonna be so annoyed.”

Jake laughed. “If we are, you can blame it all on me.”

She stopped dragging her feet and turned around with a smile. “I will, don’t worry!”

We all laughed and started making our way towards the gym. It was nice to meet a group of good people. Besides Morton, everyone had at least been civil to me. I didn’t expect it. I had a feeling I was really going to like it there.

We moved past the stairs and around the corner to the right. The hallway continued with an intersection leading off in three different directions. To the left there were a few doors, each having a symbol on the front. From what I could gather, it looked like the dining room. Both forward and to the right ended up going in the same direction, towards the gym. As we continued to follow the hallway, there was another fork. Jolly stared off longingly at the left walkway, but the gym was to the right.

The next room on our trip to the gym had Saturn as a symbol. The nameplate for the door said “Observatory.” 

Jolly placed her hands on the door, staring in awe. “This school has an observatory?” She looked back at the group with sparkling eyes. “I wonder how high up it goes…” She trailed off, turning slowly back to the door.

“Plenty of time to look later.” Jake grabbed her by the arm and pulled her along. It took her a few seconds, but eventually she composed herself and began walking with the group.

Right as we were about to round the corner to the gym, the door to the observatory opened. This time we all stopped; curiosity took over.

“I swear, the second I meet whoever’s in charge of disinfecting this place, I’ll kill them.” A girl in red doctor’s scrubs came walking out. But instead they were cut down the middle, almost like a jacket, with a white undershirt. She wore black pants, a red hair net, and a white mask with a red “H” in the middle. On top of that she had a black bag slung around her shoulder, that sat neatly at her side.

Behind her, walked out a boy with jet black hair. He was wearing a yellow and black jumpsuit, with miscellaneous logos covering the whole thing. They gave her a tired look. “Are you going to say that after every single room we walk into?”

The girl looked at us for a few seconds before turning to the boy. “I just might, and I have every right to do so! Have you ever seen such a disgusting place?” The boy shrugged. 

At the immediate lapse of conversation, Jolly bursted forward. She held her hand outstretched to each of them. “Jolly Hawkins, nice to meet you! Can I see your Monopad?”

The girl frowned at Jolly, taking a step back before returning to her normal angry expression. “Ew.”

Instead, the boy stepped forward and shook Jolly’s hand. “Don’t mind her. I’m Yellowjacket, but you can call me Watson.”

“So, is Yellowjacket your first name or last name?” Zack said smoothly while walking up to Wattson.

“You idiot!” The girl groaned loudly. “His real name isn’t Yellowjacket. It’s his racing name!” She tapped furiously on Wattson’s yellow and black jacket.

“I assumed he had a very exotic name. Personally I think Yellowjacket is a little stronger than Wattson.”

Wattson shrugged. “I did say my name was Yellowjacket. So, fair.”

The girl gave him a sharp stare, and slowly lifted her finger at him.

Jake slipped in between everyone, which sort of dispersed the tension. “Everyone, let’s not fight. We should just exchange Monopads and head to the gym.”

“I’m not letting you touch my Monopad.” The girl clutched her bag tight, eyeing Jake in the process.

“He doesn’t have to.” Jolly piped up. She motioned to Wattson. “Yellowjacket, your Monopad please.” Wattson gave her a smile, and pulled out his tablet. Just like before, Jolly tapped hers to his, and we all did the same.

Wattson Finch

Height - 5’7

Weight - 128lbs 

Blood Type - AB

Birthday - September 7th

Ultimate Ability - Racecar Driver

Jolly held her pad up to the girl, showing all the student information. “We meet each other through our Monopads. A person will remain undiscovered until two people tap their devices and share info.”

The girl looked suspiciously at Jolly and her Monopad. “Oh, well…” She paused for a second, probably thinking about whether or not she wanted to share her info with people like us.

“What do you have to lose?” Jake tilted his head. “If we’re going to be going to school together, we’re going to have to know each other.” He outstretched his Monopad in front of her. “You don’t _have_ to like us, but at least let us know who you are.”

After a few seconds of thinking, the girl nodded. Out of her bag came her tablet, and she tapped Jake’s device with her own. Then begrudgingly she allowed us to as well.

Roselia Howell

Height - 5’4 

Weight - 97lbs

Blood Type - A

Birthday - February 2nd

Ultimate Ability - Surgeon 

After looking through Roselia’s information, I realized that I was already half way done with my list. _Sixteen entries? Could that be right?._ I wondered how many students went to school here. _It couldn’t be only sixteen could it?_

Zach gasped upon reading her name. “Roselia Howell? Didn’t you do a gastric bypass on my dad?”

The expression from Roselia was that of confusion. “No, couldn’t be. You probably have me confused with some other surgeon.” She smirked to herself and turned her head slightly away from him. “You see, I am only employed by the elite. People from around the world would pay me anything to give them so much as a checkup!” 

Zach nodded. “Sounds about right. Dad said he wanted the best of the best. I do remember him saying the surgeon was really young!”

The room went quiet, as Roseilia sneered. “There’s not even the smallest chance that you come from wealth.” She rubbed her finger on his jacket. “I can tell a budget jacket when I see one…”

“You’re right.” Zach tapped his head. “I’m actually adopted, but my parents are _loaded_ .” He pulled a huge smile, “I guess you can say I got _lucky_.”

Jake groaned. “Dude, are you gonna do that the whole time?”

Zach giggled. “Maybe.”

While this exchange was going on, I thought about the announcement. It had said to not get lost, and we were getting pretty off track here. I looked to Jake, to see if I could get his attention, but he was facing away from me. “Uh, guys.” I spoke too low, and nobody heard me. I didn’t want to yell and ruin the moment.

“I don’t get it.” Roselia’s tone was even more annoyed than usual.

Jolly slid next to her. “Ah, makes sense. So Zach’s the Ultimate Lucky Student, so him saying that he got lucky would actually be a pun off his talent. You’d probably know that if you read everyone’s bios.” She paused. “Which I absolutely suggest you do. It’s not thrilling material, but it’s very informative.” Roselia responded with daggers, causing Jolly to slowly distance herself.

“G-Guys?” I tried again, this time trying to raise my voice a little bit. Once again they didn’t hear me. I turned around towards the gym, and wondered if everyone else was already there. _Are we going to be the last ones to arrive? We’ve already been here for a few minutes._

“Alright everyone, we should probably make our way to the gym.” I turned around to see Jake pulling their attention. “I’m sure we’ll have plenty of time to talk after the special assembly. We don’t want to be late.”

 _Yes!_ I knew Jake would be with me on this. It was a good thing he was keeping his eye on the time. Everyone else agreed, and we moved around the corner to the gym.

Inside was a large wooden floored room, with basketball hoops on one end. Along with that, there was random scattered equipment at every corner. Floor mats, tarps, punching bags, and some exercise equipment was stationed around the room. But in the center was something that looked out of place. There were four rows of school desks in the middle of the gym. In front of them was a blackboard, with what could only be assumed to be a teacher’s desk.

There were already five students sitting at tables, one of them being Morton. We walked to the middle of the room, taking desks next to each other. While walking by, Jolly stuck behind Morton and tapped her Monopad on his.

He spun around as she ran to her desk. “You bitch! I told you not to touch my stuff!” He eyed her as she walked back to the group, but eventually just went back to playing with his Monopad.

Jake had sat in the back of a row, so I decided to sit in front of him. Before I even placed myself in the seat, the person in front of me turned around. “Austin Leister, great to meet you!” He placed his hand over his chair and gave a smile. It was genuine but he was definitely nervous.

“Kai, nice to meet you too.”

Austin was wearing a dark brown button down shirt, and safari hat. Around his neck, he also had a large pair of binoculars. 

“Nice hat.” I wasn’t sure what else to say, but it looked like he still wanted something.

He looked upwards and patted his head. “Ah, it’s actually a pith helmet. Great for varying climates!” He smiled again, and continued to stare at me.

“So… are you a hunter?”

He shook his head. “So close. Actually, I’m a zoologist.” He leaned backwards, revealing the person in front of him. “She’s the hunter.” After the girl in front of him didn’t turn around, he tapped on her shoulder. “Violet. Violet. Violet.”

Violet, who wore a dark gray and white puffy coat, a wool hat, and a black face mask, slowly turned around. She pulled her facemask down to where it was just barely lower than her lips. It was covered under the hat and jacket, but I could just make her out her dark blue, almost purple, hair. “Yes, Austin?” She spoke slowly, like every syllable was worth taking its time for. When she was done speaking, she pulled her facemask back up.

“This is Kai! He’s new to this row of seats.” He pointed to me before continuing. “I was just telling him that you’re the Ultimate Hunter.”

Violet nodded.

I wasn’t sure if Austin expected her to say more, but I really didn’t think she would. All three of us sat there for a minute in awkward silence. I could feel Violet’s cold piercing eyes stab through me. There was not a single thing I wanted more in the world than for it to stop.

“Well, great talking to you as per usual.” Austin gave her a light wave. Violet nodded and turned back around. Austin’s focus was turned back to me. “So, Kai. What’s your favorite animal?”

Without really thinking, I responded. “Wolves, I guess?” _Wolves? Do I even have a favorite animal?_ I tried to remember, but quickly realized how useless that would be.

“Hmm, rather basic, but a favorite I can get behind!” He closed his eyes for a second, and then opened them with a smile. “Did you know that the entire pack of wolves help take care of pups? Even if it isn’t their pup, they’ll bring food for the mother, play with the pups, and even do a sort of babysitting!”

“That’s interesting.” It honestly was. I wished I could give a better response than that though.

“Right?” Austin tapped his head. “This is a storage container for amazing animal facts! Just about anything you can think of, I have the perfect exciting fact!”

 _Is that really a talent?_ I nodded enough to appease him. _I guess I’ll keep that in mind._

After another minute of animal facts, Jake tapped on my shoulder.

“Hey, do you want to meet everyone else while we wait?” He motioned over to the right side of the room, where a few people we hadn’t talked to sat. I nodded almost immediately, extremely tired of hearing the average tongue length of a tiger. Before we went, I gave Austin a short goodbye.

The first person we approached was a girl in a plaid shirt. She had shoulder length dark orange hair, that was just barely obscured by a brown cap. Her green eyes followed us as we approached, but she waited for us to speak first.

“Hello!” Jake outstretched his hand, which she took. “My name is Jake, and this is Kai. We’re just meeting everyone else before we meet the staff.”

She nodded. “I’m Max, and I’m a lumberjack.” She didn’t seem angry, but her face was pulled downward into a default frown. “What are your talents?” 

Jake placed his hand over his chest. “I’m the Ultimate Lucid dreamer, and…” He paused, and pulled out his Monopad. “Kai’s talent is unknown.” He showed her my page on the pad, expecting some sort of resistance to his original explanation. 

Her eyes fixated on my page. She stared at it for a good while before looking up at Jake. “Nice to meet you two.”

Behind her was Morton, who has also been watching us during this exchange. I kept my gaze away from his, but Jake gave him a happy wave. Naturally, Morton responded with a sneer. I could tell that he was a lost cause. 

The two seats behind Morton were empty. Three seats in total were clear, so it looked like we were still waiting for a few people. Instead, we went to the left of Max. The row was mostly full, with the first person watching us. They were a girl with flowing golden blonde hair, and a half-cocked smile. She was wearing a black letterman jacket with orange sleeves.

“Am I next?” She asked, placing her head on her hands. I could tell if her tone was mocking us, or if that was just how she talked.

Jake gave her a suspicious look, but approached anyway. “I guess so.” He took a breath. “I’m--”

“Jake and Kai…” She trailed off. “I heard you earlier. But I guess the question on your minds is who am I?” She smiled at him.

I could see a slight shift in Jake. He started playing with his hands more, and his expression shifted to an absolute neutral. She was clearly pissing him off.

“Yes, we’re both _extremely_ interested.” He did his best to give her a smile of his own.

She learned back in her chair, closing her eyes for a few seconds. “Well, I guess since you seem so interested. I could tell…” I didn’t even feel a part of this situation. It was so painfully obvious that she was only interested in talking to Jake. Which wasn’t a bad thing. I didn't feel like talking anyway.

“My name’s Elizabeth.” She put out her hand for him to shake. “But you can call me whatever you like.” She stared into Jake’s eyes with intensity, as if to soak up every detail. “Liz, Lizzy, Eliza, Beth. I couldn’t care.” 

“And your talent?” Jake wasn’t having any of it. I could tell by the way he kept trying to crack his knuckles that he wanted to be as far away from her as possible.

“Jake…” She held his name for a good while, trying to drag it out as much as she could. “You really do know how to interrogate a woman don’t you?” 

His knuckles were turning white from how hard he was pressing his fingers. “Just tell us your talent, I’m not interested in any of this bullshit.”

Elizabeth’s body tensed up. She slowly reset herself into a normal sitting position, and her smile melted away. For the first time, her gaze drifted off to me. She stared through me, making a meal out of my existence. “Is he your boyfriend? Is that it?” Her once smooth voice switched into a more shrill tone.

Her outburst moved outwards, drawing Max’s attention. She slowly turned her head and watched us.

Jake smirked. “What if he is?”

My eyes widened as the situation unfolded in front of me. What was Jake doing? We weren’t dating. Were we dating?

Elizabeth was boiling over. Her lip curled, as her face began to turn red. Jake had pushed her over the edge and brought us into a shouting match.

But suddenly, a taller boy smacked into us, almost causing both Jake and I to trip. We turned to see someone with a video camera pointed in our face.

“Wooooaaaah! And who would believe it?” The boy behind the camera had long black flowing hair, with the left side of it turning a silver color. “We got two more students on the roster.” He waved to us and pointed at the camera. “Say hello to the camera!”

I gave a jittery wave, and slowly mouthed, “hi.” Jake on the other hand, pushed the camera down. “And who are you?”

He stepped up to us and turned the camera around on himself. “I’m Blake, and you’re on video!” He stood in between us, and used a pole attached to the camera in order to get a good shot. “Say hello to all the slitherers out there!”

“Slither...ers?” I managed to get out while keeping my eye on the camera.

The kid gave a puppy-dog face. “Aww, don’t tell me you’ve never watched my stuff. I have thirty million followers online!”

Both Jake and I shook our heads. I wouldn’t remember even if I did know him.

“Lame.” He passed the camera to me, making sure to line it up perfectly before continuing. “My fans are called the slitherers because my symbol is a viper!” He stepped back, giving a clear view of what he was wearing. It was a yellow and red sweatshirt, with a snake sewn into the center. His sweatpants were the same colors with snakes down the legs. “Check out my merch at ViperShop.Blake!”

He took the camera off my hands and shut it off. “We can always reshoot later. I’ve been getting a short bit with each of the students.”

“So you’re the Ultimate… video guy?” Jake said, keeping a neutral expression.

“Close!” Blake shouted. “I’m actually the Ultimate Vlogger. Makes sense because my stuff gets crazy views online.” He smacked the camera a few times. “I’m going to document as much of this school as I can. Hopefully it has a strong internet connection.”

Jake shrugged. “Probably, it’s the best school in the world.”

That comment got a wink from Blake. “That’s what I like to hear! Optimism around every corner.” He strolled back to his desk, which was behind Elizabeth. “I’ll see you two around. Let me know if you wanna record something.”

Jake grabbed me and walked past Elizabeth, who had been staring us daggers throughout that entire exchange. The last person left was sitting at the back of the row. Their face was obscured by a large plastic box that they were looking inside.

“Hello, I’m Jake.” He stood in front of the person, who slowly lowered the top of their box. They had glasses, gelled brown hair, and an uninterested expression. This was all paired with khaki pants and mustard colored collared shirt. As he finally closed the box, I could see a dark brown tie with what looked like rocks on it.

“Hi.” He said softly, keeping eye contact to a minimum.

“This is Kai, we’re just going around saying hello to everyone.”

The boy nodded, and kept his eyes on the box in front of him. After a few seconds of silence, he shifted in his seat. “My name is Ralph. I study rocks.”

“Cool. Cool. I do lucid dreaming, and Kai is an unknown.”

The boy looked up at me for a second, and then looked back down. “Interesting. Well it was nice to meet you two.”

“Likewise.” Jake shrugged to me, and we started to walk back to our seats. It was an even weirder group of people than we had already met. I was happy that I at least made friends before I met the rest of this class.

As we were walking back, two girls walked in the gym door. One of them was wearing a dark green jumpsuit, with goggles on their head. The other girl was wearing a dark orange sweater, and a muddy yellow skirt. It was hard to see, but it looked like the bottom of her skirt was made of numbers.

They were heading towards their seats, so we just waited until they walked by.

“Hello, my name is Jake, and this is Kai. We just wanted to say hello.”

“Oh, hi!” The girl in the jumpsuit accelerated forward, and threw her hand in front of us. She moved it back and forth between us, as if she was waiting for someone to take it. Jake reached out and snatched it out of the air. She gave him a big smile.

“I’m Lena!” She placed her hands over her jumpsuit, moving them down her body. “I don’t know if you can tell by the suit, but I’m the Ultimate high flying adrenaline pumping pilot!”

I nodded, taking note of a red crosshairs pin that was placed over her heart.

Lena reached behind her, and pulled the other girl forward. The ends of her skirt _were_ numbers, and hung off like tassels. “And this little _number_ is Paige! She’s so smart!”

Paige blushed. “I’m not that smart, just really good at math.” She raised her hands slightly. “I am the Ultimate Mathematician after all.”

“Very cool.” Jake pointed to himself and then me. “I’m the Ultimate Lucid dreamer, and Kai’s talent is unknown.”

Before even a second went by, both of them started speaking. “ _Unknown?_ That’s insane!” Lena stepped forward, poking and prodding me. “Are you like an alien? Or do you have like five billion talents?” She shook me slightly. “Do you even speak?” 

I nodded my head to the best of my ability as she shook me, getting off a broken “yes” in the middle of it.

Paige stepped forward as well, looking at me closely. “That really is incredible. I wonder what the teachers will have to say about your talent…” She looked me up and down. “I wonder if it’s supposed to be like a puzzle for us to figure out? Maybe that’s a part of the curriculum…”

Jake stepped in front of me, making some distance between the girls and I. “Well, I’m sure we’ll have plenty of time to investigate during our time here. We should probably get back to our seats.”

Both of them frowned and nodded slowly. “I want to do a full investigation later, though!” Paige pointed at me with her finger.

I nodded and we went back to our own seats. When we were a safe distance away, I quietly thanked Jake.

Those two took their seats, and we were almost full. It looked like only one person was missing. I looked at each of the people seated, and noticed who it was. Jazz, the girl with the neon dress wasn’t there. _I hope she;s okay._

  
  


_Ding Dong Bing Bong_

  
  


There was a chime that could be heard throughout the entire room. Everyone inside the gym looked around, trying to locate the source. A shrill voice called out over some sort of announcement system.

  
  


_Attention students! If you have not yet made it to the gym, please make your way there immediately! There is a map on your Monopad that should give you a clear direction to the gym._

_I repeat, if you have not yet made it to the gym, please make your way there immediately!_

  
  


There was a pause in the announcement, and the next part was mumbled into the PA system.

_We don’t have all day…_

  
  


I wondered who that voice was. Of course, it had to be one of the faculty members. No one else in the school should have access to an announcement system. Still, the voice was very peculiar. It wasn’t the kind of thing you’d expect from an adult. I turned around to Jake, who shrugged. It was definitely weird, but it wasn’t the first weird thing that happened in the Ultimate Academy. This entire orientation was far from what I could consider to be normal.

After a few more minutes of sitting around, feedback could be heard over the PA system. The voice returned.

  
  


_Alright, students!_

_I’d like you to give a big hand to your headmaster…_

  
  


Suddenly, something moved from behind the blackboard. A black paw, almost resembling that of Jake’s onesie stuck out. We all watched the hand swing back and forth in a wave. If that wasn’t strange enough, out from behind the board came a small bear looking thing. It couldn’t be much bigger than two feet, with half of its body being black and half of its body being white. The bear thing had a red eye on its face, and it sort of looked familiar. I couldn’t figure out where I’ve seen it before, but the whole thing was weird looking.

It posed in place and spoke in that same shrill voice. “Your headmaster, Monokuma!”

There was a dead silence that covered us as we observed this thing. I think half of us weren’t sure if we were really seeing this. I don’t think toys coming to life is part of this academy…

“What’s the matter? Never seen a stuffed bear before?” Monokuma shook his head. “I swear, kids these days are so sheltered!” He then put his paws in front of its face and laughed. “Upupupupupuppupu.” I’m not sure you could even call it laughing, but I think he was _trying._ He stopped, staring at us for a few seconds. “Jeez, talk about _unbearable_ silence!” 

No one said anything. Truthfully, I don’t think anyone knew what to say. It’s hard to think straight when a talking bear appears out of nowhere.

“Well, enough chit-chat! Class is now in session!” The bear spun around, and made a piece of chalk appearing seemingly out of thin air. He stood on top of the desk, and began writing on the blackboard. The bear spoke each word out loud as he wrote. “Welcome to the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Students!” Monokuma turned around, surveying the group of us before continuing. “Your first and final lesson is--” He stopped, training his gaze towards the back right of the seats. I followed his gaze to the only missing seat.

“Well what do we have here?” Monokuma hopped off the desk and walked slowly to the back. “It looks as though someone is cutting _my_ class!” He turned to Lena. “Can you believe the _nerve_ of some people?” She shook her head quickly.

“We certainly can’t have someone missing class on the first day!” The bear shook his head. “No, no, no! It looks like I’ll have to find where Miss. Veranda got lost.” And with alarming speed, Monokuma bolted out of the gym.

“So I’m not the only person that saw that, right?” Max spoke loudly to the group. She still didn’t turn around, but her voice was commanding enough to draw everyone’s attention.

Morton leaned back in his chair, giving off a calm demeanor. “Yes, it would seem our headmaster is a talking stuffed bear.” He scoffed. “Funny.”

Lena looked around the room sheepishly. “It...it talked to me…”

“Yeah, we were all there, idiot.” This comment came from Elizabeth, which wasn’t much of a surprise at this point.

Lena frowned. “I know, I’m just saying that thing is really creepy! It’s face is always smiling..” 

No one else had much to say about our supposed headmaster, so we sat in silence for a few minutes. Not many of us seemed to be in the talking mood, so it stayed like that until the gym doors burst open.

“Did somebody order a delinquent!?” We all turned around to see Jazz shuffled through the doors with her head down. She was soon followed in by Monokuma, who watched closely as she walked to her seat. After Jazz was in her chair, the bear returned to his desk.

“Where was I?” He tapped his paw to his face. “Ah, yes, today's lesson!” Another piece of chalk appeared out of thin air, and he began scribbling on the chalkboard. “We’ll be discussing how you all will be spending your near future at this Academy!” But what he wrote on the board was off. The words “Killing Game!” was written. _What’s a killing game? Why is killing even being discussed? What’s going on?_ It was all so bizzare.

“So as you probably read from the board, you all will be participating in a Killing Game!” He nodded, as looks of confusion started to appear among the other students. “I see you all look a little confused, and that’s alright! I’m going to explain the rules so you don’t feel left out.”

Max spoke up again. “That’s not why we’re confused.”

Monokuma placed a paw over his face and tilted his head. “Well now _I’m_ confused.”

“What makes you think we’ll kill someone?” Morton asked from the back of the class.

“That’s simple!” He started writing on the board, once again enunciating everything he was writing. “If you want to leave here, you need to kill someone.”

Lena stood up. She spoke clearly, but there she was obviously afraid. “I-I’m going. You can’t keep us here.”

Monokuma laughed. “ Actually, that’s where you're wrong!” He drew a small house on the board, talking while doing so. “I don’t know if any of you brats have been outside today, but if you had, you would have seen the wall surrounding the academy!” He drew a circle around the house, then drew a separate circle around that one and wrote “wall” in between them. “You can spend all day chopping at that wall, and you’d be dead by the time you even got _close_ to the other side!” 

Lena slowly sat down in her seat. 

“So, shall I explain how you kids can get out of here, or do you have any more questions?” His voice was both happy and imposing. He couldn’t be a real talking bear… There was a person behind him, and whoever they are, they were enjoying this.

No one responded, but confused looks were exchanged between students. How could you process a stuffed bear telling you to kill? It was impossible.

“Fantastic!” He cleared the blackboard. “I will establish the rules of the game. If you have any questions, please feel free to keep them to yourself!” He giggled.

Monokuma wrote the board, placing down the first rule. “Basically, you're stuck here! It's just like I said before. You can’t leave, and will stay here until the game is over!” 

“Now, to win the game, one of you has to off someone else! That's what makes it a _killing_ game.” There was a murmur or two from everyone else, but Monokuma quickly quieted everyone. “And to all of you who are thinking about how easy that will be, think again!” He wrote the words “Class Trial” on the board.

“When someone ends up dead, we’ll hold a class trial. During this, all of the innocent students will try to find out who the killer is. We’ll call them the blackened!” He quickly drew a few stick figures standing behind podiums. “If you can successfully find out who the blackened is, only they will be punished!” Monokuma paused, and stared back at us. “But if you choose wrong, everyone besides the blackened will be punished!”

“What do you mean by punished?” Jake’s voice carried from behind me to the front of the class.

He laughed again. Each time I was finding it to become less and less pleasant. “Well, the punishment should fit the crime. The blackened will be executed!”

 _Executed?_ I looked around to my classmates, who shared the same expression as me. This bear is suggesting that we kill each other to survive. _And even worse, if someone manages to trick us, we all die._ There was no good solution to pick.

“Now,” Monokuma continued, “the game will continue until two people remain. Those last two people will be considered the winners, and be allowed to go free!”

 _Two?_ My body shivered at the thought. _Only two people are going to leave the school alive?_ I looked around at the other students, my classmates. I had already made so many friends. _Are they going to die? Am I going to die?_

“You know how the game works, but there are a few more details I would like to clear up.” He drew a sun and a moon, and placed an 7 and 10 next to them. “Nighttime will be considered between 10pm and 7am. Certain places, specifically the dining hall and this gym will be off limits during that time. Besides that you have all the freedom in the world to explore the Academy to your heart's content!”

The word freedom seemed more like a jab than honesty at that point. He was making fun of us. The person behind this was sure having their fun.

“And one final note, as I’m sure you're itching to get started! Any destruction of the Academy property is a strict violation of the rules. It is worth noting that both I, and your Monopads are Academy property. So treat us with care!” He spun around, doing a little dance to celebrate the start of the killing game. “Oh, and while we’re talking about your Monopads, all the rules talked about here can be found on the rules section of your device. Please feel free to read them over as many times as you’d like!” He continued. “And in order to make you all a bit more friendly, I’m automatically filling out everyone’s student listing! Let’s say it's a present from me to you!” 

Monokuma bowed from the desk, ending this horrific presentation with, “class dismissed!”

Our Monopads dinged in unison, as “Rules Updated” flashed, followed shortly by “Student Information Updated.” I decided to look at the rules first, as those were still fresh in my mind. Similarly to how they were presented by Monokuma, the rules were listed.

  
  


_Rule #1: Students are required to cohabitate at the Ultimate Academy for the remainder of the unforeseeable future._

_Rule #2: When a murder is committed in the academy, a class trial will be conducted. Participation in this trial is mandatory for all surviving students._

_Rule #3: If the killer (here in after referred to as "the blackened") is correctly identified during the class trial, only the blackened will be punished for their crime._

_Rule #4: If the blackened cannot be identified, or if an incorrect student is identified as the blackened, all students except the blackened will be punished for the crime._

_Rule #5: If the blackened survives the class trial, they are declared the winner. At which point, they will graduate from the Ultimate Academy and re-enter the outside world._

_Rule #6: If innocent students (hereinafter referred to as "the spotless") continue to survive class trials, the killing game will continue until only two students remain._

I stared at this line for a long time. The idea that only two people would be standing by the time this was done leeched into my brain. It was horrific. What was the chance that I would be one of the two survivors? I assumed it was very slim. Even with this haunting realization, I kept reading.

_Rule #7: "Nighttime" is officially designated as the hours between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. During this time, the dining hall and gymnasium are closed._

_Rule #8: All acts of violence toward Monokuma, the headmaster of the Ultimate Academy, are strictly prohibited._

_Rule #9: Monokuma will never directly participate in a murder._

That was a new one. Somehow, it brought a little comfort to know the talking bear wasn’t going to be the one killing me. But is it really better to be one of my classmates? I tossed that thought aside and kept going.

_Rule #10: Your Monopads are very important items. Make sure you do not damage them._

_Rule #11: A body discovery announcement will occur when three or more students discover a body._

Interesting. I guess this is to make sure that the game can move smoothly once someone is found dead. I thought about that, and pictured the bodies from my dream. I hoped that I wouldn’t have to see one of the bodies, and hoped there wouldn’t be any bodies at all.

_Rule #12: Students have free rein to explore the Ultimate Academy as they see fit._

_Rule #13: Students who violate these rules will be executed immediately by the headmaster._

There was that word again, executed. I wished that they would use a better word, but I guess it was accurate. And that was a good way to describe the rules. They were as accurate as they were terrifying. Each one clearly stated and described the disgusting process of the Killing Game. A killing game that I now have no choice but to participate in...

_Rule #14: The headmaster may add additional regulations to this list at any time._

And the final line was incredibly ominous. What could that mean? What else is there to even say? So far I couldn’t decide whether or not these rules were there to help or hurt me. I was learning towards hurt.

I turned to Jake, who was staring at his Monopad with his hand covering his mouth. He seemed to also be looking through the rules.

A chair skidded across the ground, and Lena bolted for the gym doors. Everyone, including Monokuma, watched as she ran away.

“She can run all she likes.” The headmaster’s shrill voice carried throughout the gym. “But eventually she’s going to hit a wall. There’s no running from this killing game; I want every single one of you to remember that.” He started writing on the board in chalk.

  
  


_There’s only one way to leave this school._

  
  


He tapped the board with his claws, and disappeared behind the chalkboard.

I turned to Jake. “We should go check on Lena.”

His eyes drifted slowly off the screen, and he finally took his hand off his face. “Huh?”

“I don’t think she should be out there alone… No one should be alone right now.”

His eyes wandered back down to his Monopad. “You heard the headmaster, it’s not like she’s going anywhere.”

 _“Jake.”_ I couldn’t believe him. She was obviously upset, and she was one of our classmates. We had to help each other, otherwise we’d have been playing right into Monokuma’s hands.

His eyes narrowed, and then he shrugged. “Fine. We should probably check outside anyway.”

That answer was enough for me, and we made our way out of the gym. We proceed to the main hallway in silence. I couldn’t believe he was so against checking on Lena. Instead of worrying about that, I decided to look at the rest of my classmates’ details.

  
  


Blake Orecchio

Height - 6’2

Weight - 172lbs

Blood Type - O

Birthday - August 22nd

Ultimate Ability - Vlogger

  
  


Maxine Hemming

Height - 5’7

Weight - 162lbs

Blood Type - O

Birthday - April 12th

Ultimate Ability - Lumberjack

  
  


Elizabeth Blum

Height - 5’5

Weight - 124lbs

Blood Type - AB

Birthday - January 1st 

Ultimate Ability - Cheerleader

  
  


Ralph Anderson

Height - 5’4

Weight - 152lbs

Blood Type - A

Birthday - May 2nd 

Ultimate Ability - Geologist 

  
  


Lena Mavenne

Height - 5’5

Weight - 135lbs

Blood Type - AB

Birthday - June 16th

Ultimate Ability - Pilot

  
  


Paige Turburcio

Height - 4’11

Weight - 105lbs

Blood Type - B

Birthday - November 11th

Ultimate Ability - Mathematician

Violet Fortunata

Height - 4’11

Weight - 85lbs

Blood Type - O

Birthday - December 3rd

Ultimate Ability - Hunter

  
  


Austin Leister

Height - 5’6

Weight - 124lbs

Blood Type - O

Birthday - July 23rd

Ultimate Ability - Zoologist

  
  


There wasn’t much more useful information there, but it was nice to have it. Jake and I were just turning onto the main hallway. Based on the map, and what I had seen of the school, there was still a lot to explore. I wondered why they would give us such a big school if they just wanted us to kill each other. It didn’t make a lot of sense to put such a budget into this. And everyone’s words about the school came back to me. The Ultimate Academy for Gifted Students was supposed to be an amazing school that only the best went to. None of them had heard of them killing their students.

 _Maybe that’s it!_ It all started making sense to me. _There’s no way we’re expected to kill each other. This has to be just an advanced orientation!_ The pieces started falling into place. A wacky academy with massively high standards would never kill their students. It just didn’t make sense. Someone had pulled a prank on us, and I fell for it.

I felt incredibly stupid, as Jake pushed up the double doors to reveal the outside of the academy. It was a decent sized campus. There was a large courtyard in front of the school, with buildings scattered around the surrounding area. Besides the main pathway, here was bright green grass, which looked extremely well cultivated compared to the rest of the school. But what really caught my attention was beyond the buildings. _A wall._

Monokuma wasn’t lying. There was a massive glass wall surrounding the academy. It had to be at least two-hundred feet tall, and wrapped around the entire school. A city skyline could be seen just outside it. Just out of reach.

I looked left and saw Lena running towards the edge. She was still sprinting towards what I guess she assumed was an exit. “Jake, she’s over there.” I pointed to her and started jogging in that direction. Jake followed quietly, choosing to walk instead of run.

My body wasn’t prepared for this kind of movement, but I pushed it anyway. There were other buildings to my right, but I didn’t have the time to look at them. Knowing that this killing game was all fake, I had to stop Lena from hurting herself.

I finally caught up to her, as she had stopped running. She sat on her knees at the edge of the school grounds, at the wall. It towered above us, making this already massive school look small. _All of this to keep us in? Or is it to keep us safe?_

Lena just stared up at it, and sobbed softly into the grass. I didn’t know what to say. I wanted to tell her that it was all fake, and Monokuma was lying. I wanted to tell her that it was all some prank from some of the other students. But how could I? What if I was wrong, and instead of helping, I gave her false hope?

The sound of footsteps behind me signaled that Jake had arrived. He did nothing to hide the fact that he was coming up behind us, and I think he moved purposely to let us know he was there. He stared up at the wall, taking it all in. I’m sure even he was shocked at its scale.

“Isn’t this all really suspicious?” Jake talked nonchalantly, and looked around at the school. “The idea that the Ultimate Academy would have us all killed?” He laughed. “That sure would hurt the reputation a bit, don’t you think?”

He knew what I was thinking, and he was thinking it too. It didn’t make any sense. Nothing added up. The killing game had to be fake.

Jake made his way over to Lena, but didn’t look down at her. “Whoever pulled this prank has a real sick sense of humor, and I won’t stop until I find that person.” He smirked, extending a hand down to her. “Kai, Lena? Will you help me expose this prank? Will you help me bring normalcy back to this school?”

I nodded, and Lena stopped sobbing. She looked up at Jake with red eyes. “D-do you really think this is all just a p-prank?” She sniffled, and wiped her face with her jumpsuit.

“I do.” Jake crouched down, making sure not to touch the ground with his onesie. “And I’m going to find whoever did this and stop them.” He paused, looking up to me. “So, will you two help me?”

Both Lena and I nodded. A sense of pride filled me up. Jake was right. Someone had to expose the mastermind of this prank. Who better than us? The person who orchestrated this was awful, and everyone would be living in fear unless we stopped them. 

  
  


I knew with Jake’s help, we could end this.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is my first time posting (online and in AO3). I hope you enjoyed the first bit of my Danganronpa fic.
> 
> Chapter 1 has also been drafted out, and that can be expected (soon).
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	2. Chapter 1: Rose Colored Glasses - Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After hearing Monokuma's speech, we were all pretty scared. But I didn't believe the killing game was real. With Jake's help, we were going to stop this prank, and uncover the truth!

Jake walked over to me, taking a second to turn to Lena. “Take as much time as you need, and meet up with us later, alright?”

She nodded, and we started walking back towards the school. It felt weird leaving her alone at the wall, but she seemed a bit better now. I guess it made sense to let her sort herself out for a bit.

Jake walked in front of me, and looked around at the buildings scattered around on campus. He stopped for a moment, sizing up the area around us. There was a lot. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it really did give the appearance of a grand school. The main building was only a small part of what we actually got to use as students. Even though we were trapped inside, there was plenty of space to move around without feeling too claustrophobic.

“W-What’s the plan?” I pushed words out, even though my mouth was starting to get dry. Jake’s words before were inspiring. It was nice to feel a part of something. The idea that my friends and I would stop whoever is doing all this felt incredible.

Jake turned around, having seemingly forgotten that I was there. “Well, I think that we need to gather information first.” He traced his finger along the buildings in the area. “This place is incredibly large. If we want to stop whoever's doing this, we need to be well informed on the school.” He nodded to himself. “It’s in our best interest to explore the school in its entirety before actually trying something.”

The school was massive. Jake was suggesting that we were at a disadvantage. Whoever was doing this most likely knew the layout of the school, and even more. We needed to even the playing field. I smiled, thinking about how exciting this was going to be. 

“Let’s start with the outside. We’re already here, and we should have some quiet before everyone else makes their way out here.”

I followed, as Jake seemed to know what he was talking about. The first building we went to was right next to the wall. We actually walked past it on our way to Lena. It was a large concrete building, with not much to signify what it actually was. But on the front of the structure, there was a large neon sign that said, “The Veranda.” Below it were two doors with musical notes on the front.

Jake pushed his way through the entrance and entered the dimly lit wide open building. It was a club, complete with a main floor, booths, and bar. I looked around the room, trying to catch anything of interest. But it wasn’t very easy to see.

Jake wandered over to the bar, making his way behind it and inspecting the liquids. I followed him over, and took a seat at the counter. Behind it, where Jake was, had hundreds of different bottles. Unlike what I thought alcohol looked like, the drinks had a wide array of different colors. Any shade you could think of was bottled up, and even a few had a light glow to them. Jake opened and sniffed one of the containers, making a confused expression before taking a sip.

“Wait!” He turned to me while tasting the drink. “I-I don’t think you should have any of that…” I looked down at the counter, my face becoming red. It’s not like I wanted to tell Jake what to do, I just didn’t think he should be drinking.

He snapped his lips a few times after tasting. “Yep, that’s syrup.”

My face became even more red as I realized. Of course none of the drinks were alcoholic, we were at a school. 

“It looks like most of this stuff is flavoring.” He examined a few more bottles before turning to the counter. He then walked over and pressed something below me; it made a pouring sound. “There’s taps under here for sodas and seltzer. It’s honestly a nice selection.” He grabbed a clear plastic cup off the counter and poured himself something from the tap. Then he grabbed a blue container and poured some syrup into his drink. “Good stuff.”

Next on our radar was the back of the club, which had a massive set of speakers and some sort of console. We traveled over to it, Jake sipping on his blue concoction. The console was massive, and had to have hundreds of buttons on it. On top of that it was split into three sections.

The far left had a lightbulb symbol on the top. Under that was a screen with a color wheel, and a square in the center showing off the different hues. I played with it for a second, sliding the wheel over to green and picking a lighter shade. Upon doing this, the dim lights that did their best to illuminate the club turned to a brighter green. Jake stepped away from the console and looked around. Astoundingly, there were lights everywhere all over the club. I would have never noticed if it wasn’t for the color.

The next button that caught my eye was a slider for the lights. I moved it half way, and the lights became insanely brighter. A blinding green light filled the room, illuminating it to what could have been considered a normal amount of light. Jake gave me an annoyed look while covering his eyes, and I turned down the brightness. Other buttons on the board were similarly labeled. Flashing lights, separating colors by section of the room, floor lights. There was a lot of customization, and that was only one part of that board.

Jake made his way back to the console, and watched carefully as I played with it. The middle console had a music note, similar to the door. There were even more buttons on this console. Some made sound effects, short notes of music. There were volume tabs and different musical playlists. This seemed like Jazz’s dream as the Ultimate Dj. Then I started to think about this building. It’s a weird thing to have. Why would there be a club at a school? The building seemed almost catered for Jazz.

While still on that thought, Jake started playing with the third console. It had a picture of a building on it, and seemed to have comfort based controls. There were temperature settings to make the room hotter or colder. Jake pressed a button, and the roof started to move. There were mechanical shutters on the ceiling that let the sunlight through. He pressed the button again, and the ceiling closed off the light.

The building was incredible. I could only imagine how expensive this entire thing was. At the very least it was a pretty neat place to hang out when I wasn’t at class, but it very well could have been made specifically for Jazz. I wondered to myself whether there was going to be a specific building for each student. It seemed insane; they didn’t have enough space for something like that. But I hoped to myself. I hoped that there would be something that could help me get my memories back, or at least tell me more about myself.

“I guess we’re done here.” Jake stared at the exit. “There wasn’t much to see, just a bunch of flashy lights.”

I nodded and followed him towards the door. He was right, there really isn’t anything important here. It’s a nice place, but it gets us nowhere closer to finding out who the mastermind is. I decided to keep my mind in check, and focus on clues instead of the academy.

We exited the club and were assaulted by the light. I placed my hand over my eyes, squinting for a bit. It’s hard to realize how dark it really was there until you go out into the sunlight. Jake walked forward, and spun around to survey the scene. There was the school to our right, another building a small ways across from us, some buildings far out behind that one, and some to our left. There was so much to explore, I wondered how we’d even have the time to do it.

There was another, much larger building to the left. It had a similar concrete structure to the club, but had no signs on the front. Jake pulled on a set of black doors, but nothing happened. I watched him as he tried again.

“What the hell?” He kept pulling on the handle, each time it didn’t budge.

“Maybe it’s locked?” He gave me an annoyed expression before throwing his hands up in the air. Jake went to walk away, but noticed a sign on the right side of the building.

  
  


_ This building of the school is under construction, sorry for the inconvenience.  _

_ -Headmaster Monokuma _

  
  


_ Why would the school still be under construction? I thought this place was well known?  _ I decided that they were probably doing upgrades, and something like that probably happened a lot. Such a prestigious school needed to have the best resources. Jake on the other hand stared at the sign for a few minutes before walking off.

We continued down the stone path that moved out from the entrance of the school. It led straight forward, and most of the buildings in the area were attached to it. After the first two buildings, there was a staircase that moved down a few feet. Unsurprisingly there were more buildings past this stairway. I could immediately see three, but there was no telling how big this school actually was.

Jake made his way to the first building. This one was a little off to the left from the main path. It had a pole coming out of the roof, with multiple speakers on top. The front door was made of glass, and had a camera etched into it. We entered into a lobby area, with multiple places to sit. On one side of the lobby was a glass wall, with another room on the other side. The doorway to get inside had a red and white sign saying, “DO NOT ENTER WHILE RECORDING IS IN SESSION.” 

The words flipped out of view as Jake flung up the door. I quickly jogged forward and followed him into the room. It was rather small, with foam squares covering the wall. In the center was a wooden table; there were multiple microphones attached to it, and a camera set up on the wall.

Jake tapped the microphones, and followed the wires. There was a center console in the middle of the table. It had some dials for sound and each of the microphones, as well as a button to start recording. Next to that button was another one with a speaker on it. I pressed it and the microphones all turned on with a slight click. There was some feedback from them, and Jake turned his focus to the button.

He grabbed a microphone and spoke clearly into it. “Testing. Testing.” He tilted his head and looked around, taking the room in. “Go outside.” He turned back to me and stared.

“M-me?” 

“Yes.”

I shuffled out the door of the room and then outside the building. It really was a nice day. The perfect temperature; it wasn’t too hot, it wasn’t too cold. I turned myself towards the school. It looked like a few people were making their way outside. I wondered if anyone had looked around inside yet.

“Alright, Kai.” Jake’s voice boomed, and practically pushed me forward. “If you can hear this, come back inside.” I looked at the speakers on the top of the building, realizing what was going on. Jake was watching the doorway as I walked in, a smile stretched across his face.

“This isn’t just a recording studio. These microphones are attached to the speaker system.” He smirked. “I’d say it’s connected to the whole school somehow.”

I nodded.  _ This _ was a clue! The mastermind could have very well been in this room while we were in the school. “Do you think Monokuma was controlled from this room?”

Jake shrugged. “I doubt it. I’d honestly be shocked if they used something like this to broadcast.” He put his hand on his chin and looked around. “If I didn’t want to be caught, I would make sure all my equipment was mobile. All someone would have to do is watch this building, and I’d get caught instantly.”

He was right, but we just found a way to catch the mastermind. If they attempt to use this building to broadcast, we can easily trap them. We were already one step closer to catching them, and we just started!

“I’d say that’s all there is to see.” Jake walked out of the room without another word.

Natural progression would have us go to the building right next to this one. It was a large cage looking building that was directly opposite to the school. The cage was rather close to the wall, so I’d say it  _ was  _ exactly opposite to the main building.

Inside was  _ interesting. _ There were loads of plants and flowers scattered around the sides of the building. It was round, with a fountain in the middle. Behind the fountain was a waterfall that came down from a few feet. It was honestly a really beautiful place, if it hadn’t been for the statue in the center. On top of the fountain was an extremely muscular Monokuma. He was holding what looked like a massive chalice, that water spilled out of into the fountain. As if Monokuma wasn’t disturbing enough, this statue was horrific. 

I just stood and stared at it, wondering what reason anyone would have to build it. Even if you really liked Monokuma, why make him look like that? What was the point of it?

Jake moved throughout the room without a second thought. First he inspected the fountain. He ran his hands through the water, touched the statue, and even tried checking behind the waterfall. I don’t think he wanted to get wet, because he would only stick his hand into it. After a few minutes of trying to feel behind it, he stopped. After he was satisfied, he started to check the outsides of the cage. It didn’t make sense to me why he was checking the flowers, but he did.

“Ha, thought we’d find you guys in here!” Zach jogged through the entrance with a smile. Jolly was close behind him; she was staring at the ceiling as opposed to where she had been going. Luckily for her she didn’t trip.

“Has anyone noticed this looks like a bird cage?” She spun around, taking in all the details of the room as quickly as she could.

“Yeah.” Jake also nodded, now standing up and joining the group.

She placed her hand on her chin. “Do you think it’s some sort of symbolism for us being trapped in here?” She took her eyes off the ceiling and smiled at the group. “That would be pretty clever, wouldn’t it?”

“Would that make us birds?” Zach asked sincerely. 

Jolly nodded. “Great question.”

Zach put his hands out in front of everyone to draw their attention. “If we’re gonna be birds, I want to be a blue jay. I call dibs.”

“I don’t know if you have blue jay energy.” Jake spoke with sincerity as well. I had been confused before, but after that I was  _ really  _ confused. Were we really supposed to be birds? What kind of bird would I have been? I didn’t know many birds.

Jolly agreed with a “mhmm.” 

The conversation continued, and Zach was appalled by what was being said. “I  _ do  _ have blue jay energy. You guys just don’t know what it means to  _ have _ blue jay energy.” He placed his hand on his chest. “And that’s completely fine. This is why I’m the blue jay.”

“Fine.” Jake stuck his tongue out. “You can be a bird, but I’m just going to be Jake.”

“Great idea!” Jolly stood next to Jake. “I’d much rather be Jolly than some blue jay.”

That conversation died down, and we decided to talk about what happened since we split up.

“After you two left after Lena, it became a loud group discussion.” Jolly was now inspecting the flowers herself.

“Loud?” Jake asked.

“Morton and Max had a shouting match. He said it was real, and she thought it was all a joke.”

That made sense to me. It was hard to believe someone would make a joke like that. I assumed that a few people would need proof before they felt safe. That’s why Jake and I needed to find clues.

Jake laughed. “Neither of them were friendly when we first met them, so that doesn’t surprise me.”

“Who thought the girl who only knows how to shout wouldn’t be friendly?” Zach shook his head. “And we were so nice to Morton too!”

Jolly continued. “So everyone sat around watching them go at it for a bit. After a while some people got bored and left.”

“We are some people.” Zach smirked.

Jake nodded. “Good, it’s better to spend your time doing something useful like exploring the school.”

This caught Jolly’s attention and she left the flowers. “How much have you seen? Was there anything interesting? How many buildings are there?” 

Jake shrugged. “There’s a club and a broadcasting station.” He swung his finger in the air. “Haven’t found out what this room is for, yet.”

That room was weird. But then again did every room need a specific purpose? To me it just looked like a nice place to sit, bar the Monokuma statue. If it weren’t for that, I would have said it was one of the best looking places I had seen so far.

“A club?” Zach’s eyes lit up. “That is  _ pretty _ sweet.”

“Not exactly the kind of thing you expect to see in an academy.” Jolly removed the pen from her pocket and placed it into her mouth. “Isn’t that curious?”

“Nah.” Jake did a half shrug, not being as into it that time. “It looks like we all get our own rooms.”

_ Huh?  _ I had thought the same earlier… Could they really all have their own building in the school? Could there even have been enough buildings?

“Really?” I could practically see her brain firing off. “That’s quite exciting! I wonder what mine building will be.”

“A-Are you sure there would be space for that?” I looked away from Jake’s gaze, hoping that he wasn’t upset with me for disagreeing. “Maybe I’m wrong…”

“And wrong you are!” A shrill but familiar voice came from behind the statue. Out from under the muscular legs was Monokuma himself. He walked forward on his small legs and posed the same as the statue. “Do you all see the resemblance?”

We all were stunned into silence. Or so I thought. Zach laughed before saying, “did you quit the gym or something? You really gained a few pounds since then.”

Monokuma’s eye glowed red. “Being  _ rude  _ to your headmaster on the first day? You sure are brave!” He took his eyes off Zach and waddled his way over to me. “You’re friend Jake is right. Each student of the Ultimate Academy will receive a research lab. Each will be made personally for each student, and help them cultivate their Ultimate Talent!”

I stared down at the remote controlled bear, wondering if I was supposed to respond. But then I thought about my memories and talent. Even if this was all a prank, whoever was doing this had to know  _ something  _ about me.

“About that.” I cleared my throat. “On my Monopad, it doesn’t say what my talent is. How can I cultivate what I don’t remember?”

He stared at me for a moment, unmoving. “Hmm, must be a glitch!” He waddled past us out the entrance, and then rounded the corner.

“Hold on!” Jake spun around and ran out after him. “That’s not good enough.” 

We all jogged after him, but he had stopped just outside. Each of us looked around, but Monokuma was gone. He had disappeared just as quickly as he appeared.

“The hell…”

“Your talent really is the best kept secret, Kai!” Jolly turned to me and leaned in close to my face. “Are you  _ sure _ you don’t know what it is?”

I nodded. “I-I’m sure.”

“Pshaa.” She spun around and sighed. “You better not be lying! I’ll never forgive you if you are.”

“I-I’m not!” I pleaded, hoping nobody else thought I was lying. I seriously didn’t know my own talent. It wasn’t like I didn’t want to know, I just didn’t know.

“Don’t worry.” Jake spoke calmly. “If Kai knew, he’d tell us. He’s not the kind of person to lie.” 

She looked to Jake, and then to me. “You’re right. It’s just weird.”

“It is, but there’s nothing we can do about it right now.” He pointed off towards another building down the path. “The best we can do is explore the school. Maybe there will be clues somewhere about who he is.”

Her eyes opened wide, and a smile appeared on her face. “That has to be it! Part of our time here has to be finding out Kai’s talent.”

“Really?” It made enough sense, but could that have really been the answer? Were my memories just part of the overall mystery of the academy? 

“Makes sense.” Jake agreed.

Zach grabbed my shoulder and shook me slightly. I was startled for a second, but it was calming in a way. “Don’t worry, bud. We’re gonna get you all your memories back!”

At that time, it was enough for me. A small beacon of hope that I was able to cling onto. At the very least, I had people who cared about helping me.

We walked off towards the lone building. In order to get to it, you had to go right when facing the cage. It was on the opposite side from where the broadcasting station was, but was a little farther. I guessed that it was the farthest building away from the school.

But when we arrived it was closed off with caution tape. A similar sign to the one we saw before was stuck to the center of the tape.

  
  


_ This building of the school is under construction, sorry for the inconvenience.  _

_ -Headmaster Monokuma _

  
  


It was slightly different from last time though. The front wall of the building was almost completely open. There was a small lip that extended from the top, and it was a long structure. There wasn’t much inside, but it did have two rectangles drawn on the floor each with an “X” in the center.

“This is the second building still under construction.” Jake read the sign carefully. “I wonder why so much of it is still being built. You think they’d be more prepared.”

Jolly passed the note, and instead stuck her arm slowly past the caution tape. She waved it around a bit, and then stepped back. “I wonder what this is…”

That was a good question. It was obviously different from the other building. Or maybe it was just in a later state of construction? I wondered if there was any way to tell, or if I was supposed to know.

“Well, the other building didn’t have the open wall.” Jake stuck his head past the tape and tried to see if there was anything on the ceiling. “So either what’s inside isn’t important, or it serves a completely different purpose.”

“Honestly, it looks like a garage.” Zach pointed at the lip. “Like you could put a door here.” Then he pointed at the rectangles on the floor. “And those could be where the cars go.”

Everyone, including me, stared at Zach.

“What?” His eyes darted around, but he still pulled together a smirk. “Was what I said  _ completely correct _ ?” He giggled to himself.

Jolly stroked her chin, staring into the building. “Yes, actually.”

“Wait, really?” His smirk faltered. 

“Think about it.” Jake surveyed the group. “Monokuma told us that every single student is going to be getting their own specific building. Not only is what you said a good start, but Wattson is the Ultimate Race Car Driver.” He turned away from us and waved his arm towards the building. “So I think it’s easy to assume that this is some sort of car garage for him.”

I nodded. Both of them were right. And not just them, it seems like Monokuma wasn’t lying either. That was a scary thought. Of course whoever was controlling him would have some idea about how the school works, but it was still weird to be taking information from a talking bear.

Zach looked surprised, but easily got over that. “Ah, of course. We have something similar at my house. It’s a bit bigger, but it’s got a similar design.”

_ He has a car garage? _

“Exciting!” Jolly took out her Monopad. “How many cars does your home garage fit, exactly?”

“Well--” Zach started.

Jake cut in. “I think we should keep looking around. We still have a lot of the school to explore.” He was already a few feet in the other direction, and his eyes were locked onto me. I started my way towards him and he turned around. I could hear Jolly behind me whispering, “tell me later.”

As we walked back up the stairs, I checked the school map on my Monopad. Almost nothing from the actual school was filled in, but just about all the outside was. The places we had visited were clearly displayed on the map, and could be tapped. First I chose the club, which had a music note symbol.

  
  


_ Ultimate DJ’s Lab _

  
  


That made sense. Calling it the Veranda, when it was Jazz Veranda’s building. Lab was such a weird word for it, but once again it made sense. I couldn’t click on either of the under construction rooms. Whenever I tried, a small red “x” would appear and say exactly what had been on the sign. The broadcasting station was another lab.

  
  


_ Ultimate Vlogger’s Lab _

  
  


Blake’s lab. That made two. This got me thinking about what my lab could be. I was excited by the anticipation. I just knew that my lab would be the key to everything. All the answers I wanted were in there; I just knew it.

My finger hovered over the cage. Could that have been someone’s lab as well? I tapped it, and the name slowly appeared.

  
  


_ Shrine of Judgement _

  
  


I stared at it for a good minute, almost tripping on the final step of the staircase. I stood up straight, making sure that I knew where I was going, and looked away. Something about the Monokuma cage being called the Shrine of Judgement terrified me.

As we approached the last building outside, I wondered if I should mention it to someone. It wasn’t like it confirmed the entire killing game to be real, but it  _ was _ disturbing. I decided to keep it to myself, as I didn’t want to cause panic. Instead, I thought to mention it to Jake when we were alone.

Jake was stopped. He had been staring at the building while waiting for everyone else. This final building was a cylinder. It had no symbol on the doorway, but a bed symbol on the map.

“The dorms.” 

Jake turned to me when I spoke. “Huh?”

“I, uh.” I quickly spun my Monopad around. “The map has been slowly opening up as we’ve visited places… This building has a bed icon, so it might be the dorms. I’m not sure though.”

He nodded, then turned his attention back to the building. “I guess we should check it out then.”

“But…” I turned around and saw Jolly and Zach still making their way to the building. “Should we wait?”

He shrugged. “Nah.” Then he walked forward, beckoning me to follow. I did, and we entered what I assumed was the dorms. There was a big open circle in the center of the room, with stairs on the side leading up to a second floor. On top of that, there were pictures above every door. Each picture was one of the students, pretty much solidifying the fact that this was the dorms.

Jake walked forward, taking no time before moving to his room.

“D…” I didn’t complete the sentence, but Jake turned around anyway. He stared at me, waiting for me to speak.

“D-Do we want to explore the rooms together?”

He looked confused. “No. Let’s check our rooms out, and then meet back here when we’re done.”

I nodded, wishing for a different answer. The entire academy was creepy, and I wasn’t comfortable going anywhere alone. But I didn’t want to bother Jake..

The door to my room had a handle, but it was locked. There was a piece of paper on the handle.

  
  


_ In order to unlock the door, you need to put your Monopad up to it!  _

_ NOTE: The Monopad of the student who the room belongs to is needed to unlock it. _

_ In certain situations, your Monopad will become a key. Please make sure to keep it safe! _

_ -Headmaster Monokuma _

  
  


I pushed my Monopad against the door, and a slight click could be heard. Upon turning the handle, the door opened. My first thought was about how dangerous this system was. If someone stole my Monopad, they would have full access to my room! I needed to keep it safe at all costs.

To my surprise, the room was pretty standard. There was a decently sized bed, with fresh linens. The room had a window with a curtain, and a closet along the side. As opposed to everything else I had seen, this was normal. That wasn’t a bad thing, I would rather my room be normal than anything else.

I looked at the closet and had a thought.  _ Maybe there’s a change of clothes!  _ I put my finger through a hole in my shirt and made a rush for the closet. If there was any place in the school for fresh clothes, it had to be my room. The door slid open, and there were replacement clothes. To my shock, all of it was exactly like what I was wearing now.

Each set of clothing was ripped and dirtied, just like how I had woken up. Not a single cloth was clean in the closet. I was mortified, and let as loud of a sigh as I could muster.

“What’s wrong, Kai? Something wrong with the room?” A shrill but familiar voice appeared behind me, causing a shriek to leave my mouth. It was not a very mature reaction, but I didn’t expect anyone to be in my room.

I turned around to see Monokuma lying on my bed. He was on his side, with his paw holding his head up. “Am I so ugly that it warrants a scream? You know, my mommy told me that I’m beautiful. I don’t have to take this!”

“I…” I didn't know what to say. There’s no way this thing has a mom. Then my mind was pulled into that thought.  _ Could he have a mom? _ Monokuma continued to stare at me, and I decided just to apologise. “S-Sorry, I just didn’t know you were here. You just startled me. Sorry.”

“Apology accepted!” Monokuma bounced up to standing position on my bed with a new demeanor. “Now what’s got you down? Come over her and tell Monokuma everything!” He patted a space on the bed next to him calmly. It was freaky.

“I-I’m good. I was just wondering if there were any other clothes I could wear?” I looked away from the bear, hoping that it would make him easier to talk to.

He shook his head quickly. “No, no, no!” He hopped off the bed and made his way to the closet. While he approached, I slid out of his way to stay as far away as possible. “This outfit is like your signature, Kai! It’s a representation of what makes you, you.” He tried to reach one of my outfits, but his stubble little arms couldn’t reach. He tried for a few seconds before turning back to me. “A little help?”

I dashed over and grabbed him a set of my clothing.

He tapped his paw on the shirt. “This right here is your Ultimate Outfit. It carries just as much of your talent as you do!” He handed the outfit to me. “It is an extension of yourself, and should be worn with pride!”

I nodded, even though I just wanted a clean shirt.

Monokuma walked to the door. “I hope I was able to teach you something very important about yourself today. And I hope you were able to absorb this very useful knowledge.” With that, he opened the door and left. Another bizarre interaction that left me in the same place I was before. I was going to be stuck in those rags forever.

My door opened smoothly, and I walked out to the balcony that overlooked the first floor. I sighed, but then quickly noticed Jake standing by the entrance. His back was turned to me, but I could tell that he was playing around with his Monopad.

Without saying anything, I made my way to the stairs. Upon hitting the top step, Jake turned to me. “All done?”

I nodded, and looked around the room to spot Zach and Jolly’s doors. Zach’s was on the left side of the first floor, and Jolly’s was more towards the middle. 

Jake had seen what I was looking at. “They’re in there. Saw them as I came out.”

“Oh.” There was a few seconds of silence. “Find anything interesting in your room?”

He shook his head. “Nothing. I’d bet they’re saving anything talent related for our labs.”

Jake was right. If i wanted to get any information on myself, we’d need to get into my lab. First we needed to find it though.

“So, might as well get going.” He turned and put his hand on the door.

I was immediately confused. Zach and Jolly were still in their rooms. “B-but, shouldn’t we wait for them?”

Jake stared at me for a second, and then had his eyes slowly drift towards their doors. He then shrugged. “Eh, they just went in. They wouldn’t want us to wait.”

“That makes sense…” I decided it was better not to rush them. I probably would have wanted to be left to myself if I were them.

He nodded and opened the door, checking to make sure I was following him. From there we made our way back to the main building. It was the first time I was able to get a good look at the school. It was large, but compared to the entire campus it wasn’t that big. I could see the observatory from the top of the school. That room sat at the roof of the school as a dome, and towered over every other building nearby..

We moved through the front doors, and were once again back inside the overgrown academy. It was honestly shocking how clean the other buildings were compared to this one, although I assumed that there was some sort of purpose for that.

Jake walked into the center of the main lobby, and stared up at the ceiling. He sat there for a few moments without moving.

“What are you looking at?”

He looked into my eyes with a blank expression. “Just trying to create a map of the school in my head. From this point, you can see multiple floors.” He smiled. “I just think that’s interesting.”

I nodded. “That’s true. We do have the other floors to explore.” I tilted my head past him and could see the staircase. We had spent so much time outside it was hard to remember that there were still multiple floors of the school.”

“Yes, but we should definitely explore this floor first.” He started flicking through his Monopad. “We skipped a few rooms on our way to the gym.”

My mind went back to Jolly complaining as we walked to the assembly. There was so much to explore. It was a good thing they gave us a map. “I remember seeing a dining hall past the stairs. I guess we should start there?”

Jake had his eyes on the Monopad, and was still looking through the map. “No, I think we should do it in reverse order. Start from the observatory and make our way back.” He nodded and put his Monopad away, satisfied with his idea.

That seemed weird. Why would Jake want to do reverse order? It honestly seemed a little counterproductive. “W-Why?”

“Why not?”

“W-well, it just. You k-know?” I was stuttering. “I-it just seems a bit weird.”

Jake’s previously bright expression died down, and he looked around. “I just thought it would be a better way…” He looked at me, now with a pained expression. “Are you hungry or something?”

I shook my head. Maybe I was a little hungry, but it was necessary for us to go to the dining area immediately. 

A small smile came back to Jake’s face. “Then should we go to the observatory first?”

“Sounds good!” I tried to sound enthusiastic, but it fell mostly flat. Either Jake didn’t notice, or it was good enough for him. 

On the way, I started taking notes of the rooms we needed to go to. The stairs were big, as the rest of the school still needed to be explored. Past those were three rooms. One was the dining area, another didn’t have a sign, and the third had a shopping cart on it. It looked like alcove of the school would be needed for food and other supplies.

We turned the corner towards the observatory, and I noted the second hallway to our left. I didn’t get to see what the room was, but we definitely had to check that out on our way back.

Jake pulled open the Saturn covered door, and revealed a hallway. He pressed forward, but the room structure was a bit confusing. At the end of the hallway was a round tube. I then remembered the observatory would be at the  _ top  _ of the school. 

I raced up to the tube with Jake, and he pressed the button on the right side of it. The metal case in front of us rumbled slightly for a minute. Then after a short ding, the tube opened up, revealing an elevator. It also made sense that you would need an elevator to get to the observatory. I just hadn’t thought about  _ how  _ you got up to it.

We boarded the lift, and Jake pushed the single button on the wall. It had the same Saturn icon that the door did. The opening to the tube closed, and rather quickly we moved upwards. For a second I almost lost my balance, but once I was used to the motion it was fine.

The elevator dinged again, and the door opened behind us instead of in front. Both Jake and I turned around to see a dimly lit room. Compared to the other areas I had seen in the school, this one was massive. My best comparison could be to the club that was outside. Also similar to the club was a dark but glowly feel. There were multiple chairs and tables that surrounded the center of the room, each had a slight neon glow that set them apart from the rest of the room.

Closer to the front of the observatory, there was a telescope that went up to the ceiling. In the center there were multiple recliner chairs; they were set up like a movie was playing.

I made my way to the middle of the room, interested as to why there were recliners. Jake stayed back towards the elevator, taking a quick scan before doing anything.

“Hello, Jazz.”

I spun around to Jake, who had his eyes off to the side of the room. Jazz sat in one of the glowing booths with her arms folded; she did not look happy. But then again she hadn’t looked happy since I met her, so I wasn’t sure if that was just normal.

“Hello… person.”

They stared at each other for another minute; neither of them made an attempt at saying anything, and instead just kept their stares.

I stepped forward towards Jazz, drawing her gaze. “Sorry, we didn’t mean to bother you. We actually didn’t know you were in here.”

“Don’t worry, Kai. I’m sure we weren’t bothering her.” Jake smiled and looked to Jazz for confirmation. 

“Actually,” she stood up from her booth, “you  _ are _ bothering me.” She took her headphones, placed them over her ears, and strolled into the elevator.

After it had closed and gone down, Jake spoke again. “A real charmer, isn’t she?”

I nodded feverishly, my eyes still on the elevator. My mind was more focused on what she said. I really hoped we weren’t actually bothering her, and if we were I hoped she didn't hate us. It would have been awful to start off my school life by making enemies.

Jake slid forward with a much looser demeanor. The room was quiet and calm. Usually the dark would be unnerving, but the soft glow from the various objects in the room made it serene. It felt more like a night sky than a dark room. But I guess that was the intention.

The group of recliners in the center formed a circle, which was formed around a table with a small console on it. Jake took a seat in one of the chairs and pressed a button with a roof and arrows on it. When he did, the ceiling of the building started to pull open. Sunlight poured in through the ceiling, changing the entire feeling of the room. Suddenly everything was completely visible, and the glow that the room once had was gone.

“This place is amazing, isn’t it?” Jake had reclined his chair back all the way, and was now looking up at the clouds. I decided to take the chair next to his and look up with him.

“It’s nice.” Although, I liked the room better in the dark. “I think it would look better at night though..”

Jake laughed softly. “I meant the entire school. I couldn’t imagine a better place to be spending my time!”

He was right, the school was incredible. I had only seen so much, but I already couldn’t imagine how much money was spent on the place. Even though it was great, my brain kept going back to Monokuma. The underlying fear of a killing game. “It’s nice.” I swallowed, pausing to breathe. “But I can’t stop thinking about whoever’s controlling Monokuma. I don’t think I’ll be able to truly enjoy it until we know for sure that we’re safe.”

Jake turned to me with a frown on his face. “Safe?”

I nodded, a bit more nervous with every word. “Y-Yeah, once we prove that the killing game is all a prank, I’ll feel way better.”

He smirked, and shook his head. “But it’s not a prank.”

Now I was even more confused. Not a prank? What was he talking about? Just a while ago he was telling Lena and I about how none of this was real. “B-But just before…”

Jake’s smile drifted off; he looked up at the sky. “I was just saying that to make her feel better.” Jake placed his hand on his forehead. “You actually believed that?”

My mouth hung open as he stared at me. But it had to be all fake. There was no way we were participating in a killing game. This is a prestigious school! “But, everything about this school.”

Jake nodded with a serious expression on his face. “Yes. Everything about this school.”

“It can’t be real.”

“For fucks sake, Kai.” He stood up and pulled out his Monopad. “The statue of Monokuma, the  _ Monopad _ . The idea that Monokuma can just walk around on his own?” He turned his screen to face me, with his finger placed on the school logo. “His  _ eye  _ is in the school logo.” Jake shook his head. “All of this is real.”

I thought about it for a second, realizing that statue wasn’t out of place. The whole time the school had been giving us clues. The dillapitated rooms, the rundowned look, all the references to Monokuma. We were being slowly eased into this. It was the only thing that made sense. Except…

“What about the academy?” I sat up in my chair and looked at Jake, begging for him to be wrong. “The Ultimate Academy for Gifted Students. I-It’s a prestigious school that everyone has heard about. How c-could they try to k-kill us?”

He shrugged. “I’m starting to think this isn’t it.” Jake leaned back, his gaze up at the sky.. “I remember getting my acceptance letter, but I don’t remember  _ coming _ here.” He pointed off the side of his chair towards the ground. “I woke up in that locker the same as you. Everything has been suspicious from the start.”

My memories. I couldn’t even think. If Jake didn’t remember coming here, does that mean that they could have taken our memories away? Did this school take my memories? Was it all Monokuma’s fault?

I looked off at Jake, who still held a serious expression. He wasn’t joking. I didn’t think he was lying. “I-It really is real. We’re all going to d-die.”

“I’m not.” Jake put his hand over his mouth, and closed his eyes. He paused for a second before removing his hand. “I’m not going to sit around crying like Lena and everyone else. I’m going to win this game.”

“But why lie to her?”

He rolled his eyes. “It was the only way to get  _ you  _ moving. I knew you wouldn’t leave her out there crying on the grass.”

“So, you lied to me too.” I didn’t want to look at him. He toyed with Lena just because he wanted to walk around the school.

Jake’s voice transformed into a shout. “Sure, call it that if you want to!” He turned on his side to face me. “People like her aren’t going to make it, Kai. You heard what Monkuma said. There are two survivors, one if a killer wins.” He pointed his finger in my face. “You need to decide whether you're going to die like Lena, or win like me!”

I didn’t know what to say. Did I even want to win if it meant everyone else dying? I had already made a few friends today; now I had to decide whether or not I’d rather watch them die, or die with them. It wasn’t fair. None of it was fair.

His finger was still facing me. “Do you know what you’re gonna do?”

I shook my head. I wasn’t ready to make that choice.

Jake got up and walked away. I’m sure it’s not what he wanted to hear, but I didn’t care. I can’t just let everyone go. I would rather help them than win. Why couldn’t that have been a choice?

When I was finally ready to get up, I pressed the button to close the ceiling up. Jake was standing by the door playing with his Monopad. He had already called the elevator. I made my way over, and we both stepped inside. There was a cold silence as the elevator moved down.

I just didn’t know what to think anymore. How could I have been so stupid? All of it had been right there in front of me, and I took the bait. Jake was right; I was going to have to make a choice.

The door opened and we moved out into the main hallway. Without speaking we both walked towards the long corridor on the left. I felt deflated, but I was still somewhat interested to see what this hallway had to offer. There was another left, and then a door.

It was a large wooden door, with miscellaneous scratches dug into it. They were  _ deep  _ scratches that looked like they were done by some sort of animal. But different from the rest, was a large question mark carved neatly into the center of the door. I knew it had to be my lab. Excitement flowed through me and replaced all the parts of my body that felt deflated.  _ This is it, I’m finally going to get answers. _

I wasn’t the only one who was excited. Jake’s mood had brightened when he saw the icon on the door. He quickly grabbed the handle and turned it. But it didn’t budge. He turned it again, but nothing. His joy turned to anger as he twisted his wrist in an attempt to force the door open.

“What the hell? Why isn’t it opening?” He turned to me for answers.

I put my hands slightly in the air and shook my head. “I-I don’t know.”

“This has to be your lab right?” I nodded. “Then think! Maybe it’s something that only you can open!”

At that second, I could feel the key against my chest. My eyes scanned the door, and although it was difficult to see, there was a small keyhole under the handle. Jake followed my eyes and dragged his finger against the wood.

“A keyhole! Kai, you’re a genius.” He paused, realizing the new problem. “But, I haven’t seen a key…” His eyes were drawn back to me. “Did you see one around, maybe in your room?”

I stared at him for a second. He had lied to me. He didn’t just lie to me, he was planning on winning the game. What did those words mean? At that point I wasn’t sure if I could still trust him. To be sure, I decided to lie. As I mustered up the courage, we both stood there in silence. It wasn’t too long, but it was enough to become awkward. “I-I looked around my r-room, and I didn’t see a key anywhere.” It was difficult, but I had done it. Technically it was the truth...

Jake stared at me, keeping a blank expression on his face. “You sure, maybe you didn’t check everywhere?”

“I d-did, but I can always check again l-later. Maybe I missed something?” Jake seemed to like this answer a lot more.

“Sounds good. I can even help you look.”

I nodded, and we both drifted off the idea of opening the door. As we walked to the next room, all I could think about was what was inside. It had to be answers. Maybe not everything I needed, but it had to be  _ something _ . As soon as I could, I needed to open that door.

After a short walk, we reached the alcove with the remaining rooms on the first floor. Jake strolled into the room with the shopping cart on it, and we were treated to a cramped room. It was only a few feet deep and about the same length wide; there was also a counter towards the back of the room. Scattered around were random objects, some of which included Monokuma related toys, posters, and other decorations.

“Welcome to my shop!” Monokuma’s voice brought me back into focus. Whether he was there before, or just appeared, Monokuma was now standing behind the counter. It was hard to keep track of him with his size.

“Shop?” Jake was still scanning the room.

“Yep, yep, yep! This is the official gift shop for the Ultimate Academy.” He slammed the top of the glass counter. “Anything your heart might desire could be purchased in this little quaint pocket of the school, as long as you have the cash.”

I hadn’t brought any money. But then again I didn’t remember bringing anything. It wasn’t like anything in the shop looked very interesting anyway.

“Is there some sort of way to get money in the school?” Jake had finished his scan, and was now at the counter. “I actually don’t have any on me.”

Monokuma nodded. “Of course!” He walked out around the counter to a small computer next to the doorway of the room. “This lil’ beaut is the MATM. Short for Monokuma ATM!” Nothing about the ATM warranted the addition of Monokuma in front of it. The only difference was a paper “M'' that was taped in front of the letters “ATM” on the machine.

“A student’s Monocoin balance will be stored in this machine, but you can keep track of it with your Monopad.” He motioned Jake closer. “You can use your Monopad just like the door to your room, and you can access all of your Monocoins.”

Jake tapped his Monopad to the machine, and text saying “Welcome Jake.” appeared. Then the screen changed and new options were available. Those options were “Balance”, “Withdraw”, and “Log Out.” Jake pressed “Balance”, and the screen displayed “100 Monocoins.” He turned back to Monokuma. “Starting balance, I assume?”

“You got it! Each student will receive a starting balance of one hundred Monocoins.”

“But you haven’t told us how to earn more.” While talking Jake navigated back and pressed “Log Out.”

The bear’s eye glowed bright red as he laughed. “After each class trial, the surviving students will all receive one hundred additional Monocoins!”

Jake nodded, barely reacting to what Monokuma had just said. “Pretty garbage reward for surviving a trial.”

“Oh? How so?”

He walked away from the MATM, a not so subtle smirk pulling over his face. “I’ve looked at everything in your shop, and it’s all worthless. I just thought there would be a better prize.”

Monokuma slowly walked back to the counter, and placed his head in his paw. “Did I not mention this shop takes requests?”

The entire conversation between them was unpleasant. It was like each of them were trying to one-up the other. I wondered if I should have just left them to it.

“What kind of requests?” Monokuma had piqued Jake’s interest.

“No limits!” Monokuma waved his paws in front of his face. “Although, I will make the final call on whether or not a request will be granted.”

Jake covered his mouth with his left hand, and turned himself around. “Do you sell keys?”

Monokuma nodded. “Sure, I sell lotsa keys!”

“A key to the room on the other side of the hall?”

“Hmm.” Monokuma rested his head on his paw and looked up at the ceiling. “A key like that is  _ very  _ rare.” He paced behind the counter, really making a meal out of this. “But, you seem like a nice kid! I can get you one of those for… One hundred and one Monocoins!”

Immediately, Jake’s eyes narrowed. His hand dropped from his mouth, revealing an incredible scowl. “How about one hundred?”

Monokuma shook his head silently. “No can do. We don’t believe in haggling here.”

“Yo--” Jake stopped talking, and instead just stared at Monokuma. For a second I thought he was going to hit him; I guess Jake was smarter than that. 

“One last question.” To my surprise, he calmed down, and even smiled. “Is there already a key on this campus?”

“Of course.”

“Is it currently accessible to at least one student?”

“Yep!”

Jake nodded, and turned to the door. “Thank you for your time.”

I followed him out the door. From what I could see, he really wasn’t upset. Probably because he knew the key was out there. I on the other hand was panicking. If Jake found out I had lied to him, who knew what he would do to me. I had to be ready in case he hit me with follow up questions.

Still without talking, we approached the room on the opposite side of the dining hall. I was then able to get a good look at the door. It was bright white, with a green airplane on the center of the door. It was clear to me that it was Lena’s lab.

The inside of the lab was incredible. It had a long hallway, with a couch on one side, and seats on the other side. There were two seats next to each other, and two across from in. In the center of those was a wooden table that extended from the side of the room. At first, the shape of the room seemed weird to me. The ceiling was very low, and the sides of the room were rounded. But then it hit me. That we were on the inside of an airplane! It made a lot more sense after I realized, but Lena’s lab really was an airplane. From the looks of the room, it had to be a really expensive airplane too.

Jake touched the couch as he walked through, making his way towards the end of the cabin. It looked like a wall, but there was a set of double doors at the back. Jake swung the doors open, and was greeted by a very mean face.

“Ugh, do you  _ mind _ ?” Roselia sat in the next room, a glass in hand.

The back room was smaller, but was somehow more extravagant. The left side of the room had a massive armchair, with a desk next to it. On the opposite side of the room there was a flatscreen TV on the wall. Under the TV was a minifridge stocked with an assortment of items.

“S-Sorry. We didn’t mean to barge in…” I truthfully wouldn’t have gone in if I knew Roselia was there. She wasn’t very friendly.

“Don’t apologise, Kai” Jake walked up to the minifridge and pulled a soda out. He cracked it open and took a deep swig. “It’s not our fault that all the bitchy people are hiding in the corners of every room we go to. They’re going to have to get used to a lack of privacy.”

“Pfft.” Roselia tilted her head away from Jake. “Or maybe you should learn to knock. At least this one has some manners.”

He turned to me and rolled his eyes. “Just wait until I tell everyone about your special spot. Good luck getting peace then.”

Roselia’s face wrinkled. “You wouldn’t d--”

“Kai, do you want a drink or anything? This fridge is really stocked.”

“Fine!” She jumped out of her chair. ”There are plenty of empty places in this school.” She stormed out of the cramped room and slammed the door behind her.

Jake giggled, and then turned to me with a smile. “I was serious, do you want anything?”

I shook my head. Jake shrugged and grabbed a small bag of peanuts out of the fridge.

To our surprise, there was  _ another  _ door beyond the room we were currently in. After opening the bag of snacks, Jake pushed it open. It was shocking, and slightly disorienting. The last room was a plane cockpit. That was alright, but you could clearly see a runway out the window. I was pretty sure my lab was behind this room, so there really couldn’t have been a runway. It seemed as though there was a screen attached to the cockpit for realistic flight simulations.

“This is the best one yet!” Jake plopped down in one of the two seats in front of the controls. And then he started pressing things. His hands moved across the board pushing buttons and flipping switches. The pane began to make all sorts of noises as he did this.  _ Jake knows how to fly a plane?!  _ I stared in shock as he pressed a final blue switch.

“And up we go!” He pulled back on the steering wheel, but nothing happened. Jake gave it another tug before giving up. “Aww.” He got up and shook his head. “I was hoping that if I pressed enough buttons, I could fly it.”

“Maybe Lena could show you sometime?”

He nodded. “That would be pretty cool.”

We walked out way back through the plane, making sure to close all the doors behind us. This school was truly incredible, I just wished that I wasn’t here for a killing game. Part of me absolutely wished for it to not be true. The evidence was stacked high for Monokuma to be telling the truth, but there was still a chance it was all fake. Holding onto that part made me feel just a little better.

Across from Lena’s lab was the final room on the first floor, the dining hall. Jake and I strolled inside to see that many of the other students were already here. The room itself was rather nice, with tan walls and a polished floor. There was a long table in the center of the room, but there were also smaller tables along the outside. Each of these tables were placed against each wall, with a few chairs around it. While making my way to the center table, I could also see the kitchen in the far right of the room; there was an alcove in the back that seemed to be full of cooking supplies.

Jake and I joined the table, and sat across from Blake, Paige, and Lena. Max and Elizabeth were also at the table, and Austin was on my left. I looked past Jake, and could see Morton sitting at the edge, looking bored.

“Hi Kai!” Austin shouted as I sat down.

“Hey.” I spoke quietly, hoping no one was upset that he was shouting.

Jake leaned forward, extending a hand to Austin. “Hi, I don’t think we’ve officially met.”

“You’re Jake!” Austin reached out and took Jake’s hand, shaking it violently. “Sorry if that seems weird, I read about you on the tablet-thingy.”

“Not at all.” Jake pulled his hand back. “And you are?”

Austin smiled wide. “I’m Austin Leister, the Ultimate Zoologist!”

Jake nodded, and went to turn around.

“What’s your favorite animal, Jake?”

He thought for a second, before answering with a smirk. “Bears, I guess?”

“Hmmmmmmmm!” Austin tapped the table. “Kinda ironic when you think about how Monokuma is our headmaster!” He turned away from Jake and looked at the table for a second. “Oh, I got one. So a grizzly bear has a biting force of over 1200 PSI. That is enough to crush a bowling ball!”

Jake nodded. “Fascinating. I wonder if Monokuma could crush a bowling ball in his jaw?”

I watched as Austin’s mouth slowly slid open. His face quickly turned to a smile as that thought ravished his head. “That’s an amazing thought. I wonder how much of a bear’s anatomy and physiology Monokuma actually shares? Do you think he would tell me?”

We both shrugged, and Austin nodded to himself. It seemed like that question sent him into a void of thought. “I’m going to go find him. I don’t see why he  _ wouldn’t  _ tell me.” He stood up and turned around. “I’ll let you guys know what I find!” He truly was the Ultimate Zoologist.

Blake had been watching the conversation from across the table. “I can’t believe you got him to stop talking for even a second.”

Jake leaned back in his chair, and gave off a light shrug. “It wasn’t my intention, but if he was going to do that the whole time, it’s a good thing I did.”

“He was.” I nodded to Blake’s response, remembering how Austin wouldn’t stop talking when I first met him. He was a nice person, but he really didn’t know when to stop.

I could feel my stomach groan, and Jake turned to me. “Hungry?” I nodded and he stood up. “I’ll go get us something from the kitchen. You just sit and relax.” Jake then slid off into the kitchen.

The conversation with Blake had died with that, and nothing else was happening. Max and Elizabeth were talking about something. Both Lena and Paige were listening in on that. I looked around the room, hoping to see something of interest. But there wasn’t; this was just an ordinary dining hall.

I turned back to Blake, and remembered we had found his lab. “Oh, by the way…” I pulled out my Monopad just in case he didn’t believe me. “We found your lab outside.”

“Oh?” This caught Blake’s attention, and he moved closer. When he moved, I could see the table behind him better. Seated alone at the table was Jazz. She was staring at me, but when I finally saw her she looked away. 

“Where?” Blake asked, trying not to pick up my tablet.

I turned away from Jazz and back down to the tablet. “Uh, down the steps over here.” I tapped on the screen, and the text “Ultimate Vlogger Lab” appeared on screen.

“Wow! What’s inside?”

I thought back to the building with the glass doors. “It’s like a recording studio. It has a special room with a table and multiple microphones.”

Blake’s eyes lit up. He looked down at the Monopad, mentally marking where it was. “Like a podcast studio?!”

I nodded sheepishly. “Y-Yeah, I guess.”

“That’s insane!” he started getting all jittery and bounced up.

At that point I remember that it was also a broadcasting station. “Oh, and the microphones can broadcast to the rest of the school.”

He froze, and slowly lowered back down into his seat. “They can  _ what? _ ” 

“J-Jake and I tested it. There is a broadcast button that goes to speakers on the top of the building.”

Blake placed his hands on his head, a massive smile pushing through. “This is the best day of my life.” He stood up and sprinted out of the entrance.

Everyone turned and looked as he left, eyes following him out the door. After that their eyes changed to me. 

“Damn, Kai!” Lena giggled. “You only just got here and already three people ran away from you!”

“I-I did--” I was quickly cut off.

“It was Blake and Austin, so I think he actually did a good job.” Max spoke with a neutral looking expression that still managed to give me a bad feeling. I felt like she was judging me, but I think she had praised me.

Elizabeth twirled her hair. “Aww come on! Blake isn’t that bad.”

Max wasn’t amused, and gave her what I could only assume was a death stare. “I don’t like being recorded.”

“Yeah…” Elizabeth’s playful tone was gone in an instant, and she looked down at the table. “Maybe someone should take the camera away from him.”

“That seems a bit unfair.” Lena looked up, her face scrunched into a frown. “He is the Ultimate Vlogger. Taking away his camera seems crazy. We should let him have his fun.”

Paige shook her head. “It’s disruptive and disrespectful. If he won’t respect boundaries we may just have to take it from him.”

“That’s--” Lena tried to rebut, but was cut off by max.

“Paige and Elizabeth are right. As the standing leader, I’ll talk to him about personal boundaries.” 

Morton scoffed audibly from across the table. “As the standing leader? Who put you in charge?”

Max stood up from her seat. “I did. In dire times like these, the school needs strong leadership.” She turned back to everyone else. “I will do everything in my power to make sure every single student of the academy stays safe, and that the killing game is dismantled. I will not have anarchy in this school.”

Instead of standing up to face her, Morton just leaned back in his chair. “Cute. You think that you can just scream over Monokuma and the game will just go away? Lying to everyone is only going to get us in more trouble.” He sat proud in his chair, wielding nothing but a massive smirk.

“Oh, then who do you think should be the leader?” Max looked down at him.

Morton surveyed the rest of the table, taking as much time as he wanted before responding. “Maybe someone a little more  _ intelligent _ . Someone who doesn’t shout as much.” He looked back at Max. “Personally, I think that I’m a perfect candidate.”

“Pft.” Elizabeth rose up with Max. “Like anyone would want you as a leader. I think I speak for everyone when I say Max is the best for the job.”

Paige nodded and looked around at Lena and I. Neither of us knew what to say, and decided not to say anything. I didn’t really know either of them well, and they both seemed mean.

While everyone was staring at each other, Jake came out of the kitchen. He was holding two plates like a waiter, and skirted around the tables with a smile.

“Here I am!” He dropped the two plates in front of me, and sat down. This drew the attention from the last discussion onto Jake. “So I wasn’t sure what you wanted, I just took whatever from the kitchen.” He started pointing out what was on the platters. “This is a mostly fruit platter, once again, one of everything. Here we have a few sandwiches.” He gave me a confused look. “Weirdly enough, there were a bunch of premade sandwiches in the fridge.” He shrugged. “And to top it all off, I grabbed a bunch of crackers and cheese.”

“W-Wow Jake, this is--” I started to speak, but was once again cut off.

Max was standing over Lena, and staring down at us. “Overboard and gluttonous. We’ve been told that we are trapped in this academy and you’re putting everything in the kitchen onto a platter?”

Jake laughed. “Ah, you don’t get it. You see, Kai was hungry.” He looked up to Max with a neutral smile. 

“No, I get it.” Max reached forward for one of the platters. “You don’t care if we all starve.”

“I wouldn’t touch that if I were you.” Jake kept his neutral smile, but his words carried a weight to them.

Max stopped. “I’m sorry?”

“I wouldn’t  _ touch _ that if I were you.” He said it again with extreme seriousness. They stared at each other; Max actually looked like she was taken off guard.

“What’s the big deal?”

I screamed, as Monokuma was sitting down in the chair next to mine. I had no idea how he kept sneaking up on me, but it was just as terrifying every time.

Monokuma was digging into the platter, tossing pieces of bread and cheese into his mouth. “The kitchen gets restocked every day; I don’t know why you’re so panicky about food.” Everyone was staring at him, and he eventually stopped stuffing himself. “Oh, did I forget to mention that?” He laughed.

Jake nodded, and took half of one of the sandwiches. Max went back to her seat without a word. The entire room was silent as Jake and I ate. 

Eventually Monokuma left, and I had filled myself up with assorted foods from the kitchen. It was nice to know we wouldn’t have to worry about food, but I wondered where it came from. I just assumed that the school had a personal chef or something.

While I was eating, my mind went back to my lab. I had a way to get in, but should I tell Jake? He had been awfully nice to me today, and even went and got me food. I wondered if I was overreacting by hiding this from him.  _ But what if my lab was a secret for a reason?  _ Monokuma had purposely made me the only one with a key. And he also wouldn’t sell one to Jake. I decided it was best to check it out on my own. Later, I could show Jake.

I came up with a plan. Once again I would have to lie. I would pretend I was going to the bathroom, and then quickly check out my lab. It was the best way to do it.

“W-Well, I’m going to go to the b-bathroom real quick.”

Jake tossed another piece of cheese in his mouth. “Oh? Alright, lets go.”

“O-Oh, you d-don’t have to come.” I was already slipping. I didn’t think Jake would want to go.

He waved his hand in front of himself. “It’s no issue, I’ll come along.”

Paige looked at Jake suspiciously. “You don’t think Kai can go to the bathroom by himself?”

“That’s not it at all!”

Lena also gave him a look. “What’s the worst that could happen? The bathroom is right down the hall!”

His lip quivered. “I just--”

“Let him go!” They both mockingly shouted at Jake. “Come on, Jake!”

Jake smiled. “Alright, alright.” He planted himself in his seat and took another piece of cheese. “I just wanted to make sure he was safe.”

Lena and Paige repeated what he said mockingly, and I waved to the group. Quickly, I made my way out of the dining hall, and checked behind me. Jake couldn’t know what I was doing.

I made my way around the corner to the lab.  _ This is it.  _ The key weighed heavy against my chest. I removed the necklace holding the key from my body, and pushed it into the lock. The mechanism creaked as the key turned inside. The door itself felt more ancient than anything else in the school. Almost like everything was built around it.

I pushed the large wooden door forward, and entered my lab. It was horrific. The room was dark, and the floor was covered with cold stone. As I walked through the doorway, I could see dark splotches on the ground. They looked like footprints, but there were also pools and trails scattered around the room. I think I knew what it was, but I didn’t want to think about that.

The ceiling was bizarre. Instead of stone like the rest of the room, it was the night sky. Not the actual night sky, it looked artificial. Stars loomed over the room, but a massive moon was positioned straight above the center of the room. It made me itch; my body didn’t like this place.  _ Could this really be my lab? _

Under the moon was a large operating table style object. It was standing up, with a slight backwards tint. I approached that first. The table was made out of metal, with steel arm and leg restraints. Text on the table read.

  
  


_ Upon being strapped in, the subject will stay like this until thirty minutes after sunrise. After such, the restraints will automatically open, and the subject will be free to go about as they please. _

_ NOTE: No subject on record has been able to break out of the restraints. This device is perfectly safe. Any reasonable person should have no issue with being inside this room while a subject is restrained. _

  
  


I stared down at the label, wondering what it could be.  _ Subject?  _ This couldn’t have been my lab. It seemed like something a scientist would use.  _ Unless I’m a scientist?  _ I didn’t feel like a scientist.

Instead of worrying about the table, I decided to explore the rest of the room. There was a small nightstand on the left side. I opened the top drawer, and was once again shocked. There was a gun. A  _ gun! _

I recoiled, hitting my back against the device in the center of the room.  _ What is a gun doing in this place? Am I supposed to kill someone with it? _ I stepped forward cautiously. It looked like a revolver. To the right of it was a small box. Upon opening it, I found six silver bullets inside. There was a small card in the box. 

  
  


_ Sterling Silver - 92.5% Silver / 7.5 Copper _

  
  


Once again I was confused.  _ Silver bullets? _ _ Isn’t that just a waste of silver?  _ I slid the draw back, happy to know that I was the only one with a key for this place. A gun would have made the killing game way more dangerous. And that was probably why Monkuma wouldn’t just give away a key…

Above the desk was another interesting item. A calendar. The interesting part was that it didn’t have dates. It had a red mark on one of the days, and showed a picture of the moon for each day. A lunar calendar of sorts.

_Silver bullets, lunar calendar, a restraining chair._ There were a lot of weird items to be in someone’s lab. _Could all this stuff really be mine?_ _It was almost like the owner was hunting a…_ The word evaded me, and my body started to itch. _Silver bullets, the moon…_ I looked around the lab, taking it all in. _Is this lab meant for hunting Werewolves?_

It seemed bizarre, but pieces of the lab started to click together with that idea.  _ Am I a werewolf hunter?  _ The thought was pretty interesting, but didn’t make much sense. It was weird that Monokuma would hide that from me if it was true. Assuming that it was, that explanation made enough sense. My clothes were destroyed because I was fighting a werewolf. The gun is for killing it, the calendar is for knowing when a full moon is, and the chair is for trapping one until daytime.

A small smile drew across my face. It was a respectable talent, I thought. Then, I turned around to the door, and spotted a small box to the left of it. I had missed it coming in. It was about half my height, and had a slight rumble. 

When I opened it, it was full of meat. Just standard uncooked meat. None of it looked like it was from a specific animal; just raw meat. All of it was being stored in a cooler.  _ Weird. Maybe it’s for luring a werewolf in?  _ I shrugged it off and walked to the door. But then I remembered. This place should now be marked on my map!

I opened my Monopad and spotted this place on the first floor map.  _ I guess I can show Jake this room and tell everyone my talent. It’ll be nice not to worry about that anymore.  _ I tapped the room and the name came up.

  
  


_ Ultimate Werewolf’s Lab _

  
  


I smirked.  _ Knew it.  _ But then I blinked and read it again.  _ Wait. Ultimate Werewolf?  _ My hands started to jitter on their own, and a cold chill began to move through my body. I read the line over and over again.  _ That can’t be right.  _ I closed the map and opened it again.

  
  


_ Ultimate Werewolf’s Lab _

  
  


It was the same.  _ This can’t be right. I’m the hunter. I’m not…  _ My hands were full on shaking now; I could barely keep the Monopad steady. I looked around the room.  _ The chair is for me? The bullets are for me?  _ I took in a breath, then another.  _ I’m a monster? _ I stepped back into the wall of the room, and put my hand on my chest. It moved up and down quickly with my breathing. My fingers went through the holes in the shirt.  _ I ripped my clothes? I… _

My body itched. I felt sick. I felt like I was going to throw up on the floor. Control over myself was starting to fade, and I dropped on my hands and knees. The splotches on the ground were sticky.  _ It’s blood. There’s blood on the floor.  _ I pulled my hands off the floor and pushed my back against a wall.  _ Did I do this? Is this my blood? Is it someone else's…? _

I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to run, but where could I go? My body was hot, then cold. It itched like crazy. Was I turning into a werewolf?  _ What would happen if I did? Would anyone be safe? Could Monokuma stop me? Would Monokuma stop me? _

The idea of waking up in the middle of a class trial terrified me. Who knew how many people I could kill if I became a werewolf? I stared into the center of the room, and the solution became clear. They gave me an out. The chair was meant to keep me restrained. I just needed to sleep in that room. It was the only way to make sure everyone would be safe. I wasn’t going to kill anyone.

After a few more minutes of just breathing, I finally left the room. My body still itched, but at least I now had a plan. Monokuma had provided me with a way of keeping everyone safe. As long as I stayed in the device, everyone would be okay.

These thoughts kept flowing through my head as I walked back to the dining hall. I wondered how long I had been gone. Jake would surely be suspicious. I could never tell him. He could never know. Nobody could ever know.

When I entered the hall, Jake turned around and waved to me. The people in the room seemed to have changed since I left. Paige, Elizabeth, Max, and Morton were gone, but Jolly and Zach were now sitting with Jake and Lena.

I took my seat at the table, giving a partial wave to the newcomers. I looked beyond Lena. Jazz was still seated in the back of the hall, but she wasn’t facing this direction.

“What took you so long?” From the looks of it, Jake wasn’t actually upset. He was smiling. That was a relief, and managed to calm me down just a little bit.

I ran my fingers through my hair in an attempt to keep myself calm. “Just stomach issues.”

Jake frowned. “Oh that’s too bad. What kind of issues?”

My face went blank.  _ What kind of issues?  _ I couldn’t believe he would ask that. Did he know? I started to panic, my eyes looking at the table. “I…”

“Jeez, Jake. Isn’t that a bit personal?” Lena rocked back and forth in her chair. She was completely unaware of how much she saved me there.

Jake raised his hands in defense. “I’m just trying to see how my bud’s doing! Don’t want him getting sick on the first day.” 

_ No. No. No. No. _

Jolly learned forward. “Jake’s right. What if it’s contagious?” Her eyes widened at the thought. “Couldn’t hurt to just tell us…”

“Yeah, Kai. We’re all friends here.” Zach placed his hands behind his head. Why did they all want to know about stomach issues?

I looked to Lena with a pleading expression, but she shrugged. We were outvoted by the majority. I had to think fast, come up with something that would appease Jake. “I-I’ve always had stomach issues…” I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, hoping that it would all pass as not wanting to share my bathroom details. “If I d-don’t eat, or eat the w-wrong foods, I have issues.” I looked down after finishing. 

“Ah, you should have told me!” Jake sounded upset, but not at me. “If I knew that, I wouldn’t have taken so long getting here.” He shook his head. “ _ That’s  _ why you wanted to come here first!”

I nodded with my head down, thanking myself for saying that earlier. Everyone else absorbed that information, and we were quickly off the subject.

“So, did you two finish exploring the school?” Jolly whipped out her trusty Monopad and pulled up the map. Lena peered over and followed along.

“No, we came here after checking out the rest of this floor.” Jake rested his head on his hands.

“Nothing interesting, I guess?” Jolly pouted as she clicked through the same map over and over.

“Actually, we found Kai’s lab.”

Jolly’s eyes lit up; it wasn’t to the same extent, but the rest of the group had a similar enthusiasm. “What’s his talent? You can’t keep me in suspense like this!” She pulled herself forward, practically sliding onto our side of the table.

“No idea. Turns out it’s locked, and we don’t know where the key is.”

She slinked back to her side of the table, a distraught look on her face. “It has to be around somewhere. Was it not in your room, Kai?”

I shook my head.

Jake put his hand on my shoulder. “Yeah, he wasn’t sure. We’re going to take another look later.”

“Fantastic.” She moved to my information page and scanned it again.

Lena took her eyes off Jolly’s Monopad and turned to me. “Which room was yours?” 

I went to turn and point behind me, but Jake pointed to my Monopad. “Might as well show her on the map. There’s a lot of rooms over there.”

My body froze as I went to open the map. After entering my lab, you can clearly see that I had been there on the map. As I slowly moved my shaky hands, Jolly changed her screen to the map.

“I got it.” She pointed to the dark outline of my lab on her map. Jolly then looked up to me. “I’ve seen everything else on this floor, so this has to be it. Do I have it right?” I nodded, and both she and Lena were satisfied. 

She flicked around the map some more. “I guess no point in walking over there then. We’ll just go straight downstairs.” She stood up, and Zach followed suit. She was talking to him without her even looking.

“Downstairs?” Jake peered over at her map.

“Yeah, on the other side of the building.” She traced her finger from the dining hall to the room that Jake and I started in. “There’s a basement, so I wanted to check that out before we did the upstairs.”

“Oh yeah.” Jake laughed. “I forgot. Kai and I walked right past that when we first woke up here.” He turned to me. “I guess we’ll look at that tomorrow.”

I gave him a confused expression. “Tomorrow?”

He nodded, and reached for the platter on the table. It was empty, and he stared at it disappointedly. “We did a lot today. How about we call it today and explore the rest of the academy tomorrow?”

I nodded slowly. Truthfully, my legs were starting to feel sore. I don’t think my body was used to that much walking around.

“Actually,” Jake picked up the platters, “if you’re all set, why don’t we head over to your room and try to search for that key?”

“Sounds good.”

Jolly and Zach left, taking Lena with them. I sat at the table staring off into space while Jake went to put away the platters. So far, I had managed to keep the lie up. Nobody knew my talent, and all I had to do was let Jake search my room. After that, the day would be over. It was an incredibly long day. I wasn’t sure how Jolly, Zach, and Lena were still walking around. I was sure I would conk out the second I touched my bed.

My eyes drifted to the left, and I saw Jazz pushing her chair in. It was freaky, I had forgotten she was even there. We made eye contact as she walked towards the exit. Her gaze drifted towards the kitchen, as Jake was making his way back.

“Oh, hi Jazz!” He shouted from across the room.

She sneered and faced herself forward. I could tell she really liked to be left alone.

Jake put his hand on my shoulder, causing me to jump slightly. “What a nice girl!”

I let out a hoarse laugh. “I don’t think she likes us.”

“Eh.” Jake shrugged. “I don’t think she likes anyone. Probably a good attitude to have in a killing game.” He smirked. “Or a deadly one.”

I frowned. “D-Don’t talk like that…”

He sighed. “Whaaat? Am I wrong? Making friends who won’t kill you certainly isn't’ a bad thing.”

Jake was probably right, but I still didn’t want to think about it. I could have been a werewolf; there was much more important things to think about than Monokuma’s stupid game. I just hoped that no one was actually thinking about murder.

We left the dining hall and made our way to the dorms. Both of us walked in silence, but Jake seemed to be in a good mood.

“Can you believe that there’s still so much of the school left to explore?” He walked backwards in front of me.

I shook my head. We spent the whole day walking around, and it still barely felt like we made a dent. And if construction can still be going on, it was possible for Monokuma to add even more buildings outside.

“It’s sort of exciting in a way. So far all of the rooms have been rather high budget.” He turned around to face the dorm doorway. “Makes me really interested to see what my lab will be!”

I thought about it for a second. “What could they do with your lab? Wouldn’t your room be your lab?”

He frowned. “I hope not. Everyone else has such cool labs. I’m gonna be pissed if it’s just supposed to be my room.”

We walked up the stairs, and I pressed my Monopad against the door. Once again, the room opened with a click, and we both entered. 

“Do you need a special setup to do your dream thing?” 

He laughed. “Dream thing?”

“Sorry.”

He shook his hands dismissively. “No it’s fine. I don’t need any special equipment. As long as I can fall asleep, I can have a lucid dream.” Jake turned around and froze.

I immediately jumped forward to see what he was looking at. In the back of my room against the wall was a small minifridge. This had not been there earlier.

“Woah!” Jake walked forward. “You get a minifridge? Why didn’t I get a minifridge?” He pulled the door open and started to rummage through it.

I walked around the side, and spotted a post-it note on the door. Silently, I pulled it off and read it.

  
  


_ Didn’t know about your condition. Sorry about that. _

_ Stay healthy! _

_ -Headmaster Monokuma _

  
  


I pocketed the note as Jake looked back at me with his hands full. “Your fridge is full of snacks.” He opened a bag of chips and started to munch on it.

“I see…” Monokuma seems to be messing with me. At this point it was no longer a surprise.

Jake spotted my sour expression. “Oh, sorry.” He put back everything besides the bag he opened. “Probably shouldn’t have just taken…”

I gave him a light wave. “It’s alright. Monokuma left this here in case I get hungry.” I pursed my lips. “He didn’t want me having stomach issues.”

Jake sat down on my bed and nodded. “Makes sense, makes sense. He can be weirdly accommodating.”

The conversation died there, but Jake continued with his chips. I wasn’t sure what to do.  _ I  _ knew the key was around my neck, but Jake didn’t. He wasn’t going to leave my room until I let him explore it to his satisfaction.

“Should we start looking?”

Jake crumpled the bag of chips and nodded. After tossing it in the trash, he got to work. Without requesting my help he searched the room. Luckily, there wasn’t much to search. He went first for the nightstand and cabinet in the room. Those were empty, so he then searched the closet.

He stared at all the ripped clothes in my closet, unsurprised. “Yeah, mine’s full of these things.” He tugged at the sleeve of his onesie. “I guess mine’s a bit more comfortable, but a change of pace would be nice at some point…”

I didn’t have anything to say, so he continued. The last place to check was the bathroom, a place that I myself had not explored yet. I followed him inside, and he checked in the cabinets above the sink. They had stuff in them, but just normal toiletries that you would expect to be in a cabinet.

After looking behind the toilet, and even in the shower, he turned back to me with a sad expression on his face. “This room is almost identical to mine.”

I nodded. “Maybe they are?”

“Probably.” He walked out of the bathroom, and took one more scan of the room. “I wonder where that bastard hid the key.” He shrugged at me. “Sometimes accommodating, sometimes he hides stuff.”

Jake opened the door. “Too bad. But don’t worry; we’ll find it.”

“Thank’s Jake.”

He waved to me and walked away, leaving the door to close slowly on its own. I had made it through a day, and nobody knew I was a werewolf. That thought never got easier. I was a werewolf? How did I even become a werewolf?

I brushed those thoughts off and dropped into bed. The whole game was dumb. I didn’t have my memories, my talent was awful, and I was stuck in a killing game. At least I had some friends. That was something that I didn’t expect out of today. I managed to meet a few people who didn’t mind having me around. And maybe Jake was right. If enough people were friends, then maybe nobody would want to kill. I was sure when push came to shove, the class wouldn’t want to follow Monokuma’s stupid rules anyway.

It was a nice thought to leave myself on as I stared at the ceiling. My gaze turned right, and I looked out at the darkened sky. It then occurred to me then I didn’t know when the next full moon would be. The window in my room aligned right onto my bed.

I thought about it, but it was just too risky to try to go to my lab. If anyone caught me, I would be done for. Instead, I curled up in the corner of my room. I was pretty sure as long as the moonlight didn’t touch me, I’d be ok.

Even on the floor, I started to drift to sleep. It really was a hard day. I hoped tomorrow would be better. But until then I just had to get through tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hola. So this is the first part of chapter one. (It's about 143 pages so there's going to be a few)
> 
> I have the rest all edited, so more should be coming shortly.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed, and please let me know if you did! Thank you for reading!


	3. Chapter 1: Rose Colored Glasses - Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finding out my talent was just another issue that sprung up. On top of everything else, I had to pretend like I didn't know what it was. Every day. things were getting more and more difficult.

I slowly pulled open my eyes. My face was pressed firmly into dirt, and the rest of my body was in a weird position. It didn’t look like the academy, but I pushed myself up anyway. 

When my hands pushed down, the dirt felt soggy. I went to wipe my hand on my shirt, but there was barely anything there.  _ What happened? _

I rubbed my eyes and looked around; it was hard to see, as the sun was just rising. When my vision cleared, it became apparent to me that I was no longer in the academy. The place was familiar, and I started to put the pieces together slowly. The forest, the dirt… I turned around to see a ruined village. The fire that had once filled it’s buildings was now almost all out.

As I realized where I was, the rest of my surroundings started to fill in. The dirt was a soggy red, and my hands were covered in blood. I started to panic, but that wasn’t the only issue. My body, and what was left of my clothes were also seemingly covered in blood. It was everywhere. And that’s when I saw them. Across the dirt opening, closer to the buildings there were bodies. Around six people all on the ground near each other. They weren’t moving; they weren’t  _ whole _ .

I stepped backwards, trying to rub the drying blood off my body.  _ W-Who did this? Why--  _ I looked around for signs of what had happened. I hoped for anything to convince me. But I knew what had happened. I could still taste it…

My legs collapsed under me, and I stared up at the slowly brightening sky. Every part of me was limp. The taste of blood becoming even more pungent with every second I thought about it being there.

_ I did this… _

_ I’m a monster… _

_ I’m a monster... _

Tears rolled down my cheek as my eyes opened. I was still in the corner of my room. Knowing this didn’t make me feel better. It didn’t change what I just saw. The dream I just had was the truth, and if I wasn’t careful the same thing would happen here, too.

I couldn’t let that happen. My half asleep brain started to work through it. I needed to look back at the calendar; I needed to play it safe. If there was going to be a full moon, I needed to use the machine in my lab. I couldn’t make any mistakes.

But as I stared at the moonlight shining through my window, I knew I was powerless. I couldn’t check at night, and during the day Jake would be watching. In an attempt to do what was right, I ended up trapping myself again.

My final decision was to stay in the corner, staring at the moonlight. Even though I was scared, I at least hoped I could get to sleep.

  
  


_ Ding Dong Bing Bong _

  
  


A familiar chime caused me to open my eyes. I wasn’t awake, but I didn’t feel rested whatsoever. I knew it was going to be a struggle to get through the day.

  
  


_ Good morning, my amazing students! It’s now 7am. The restrictions placed on the dining hall and cafeteria are no longer active. _

_ Time to wake up and greet this beautiful day with a smile! _

  
  


I stared at the floor, and wondered if I could even produce a smile. If I didn’t do something I was probably going to pass out. I noticed the fridge, and my body moved forward on it’s own. I hoped beyond anything that there would be more than just snacks in there. Luckily I was right, and on the door of the fridge was an array of sugary drinks and canned coffee. 

Instinctively, I took a can of coffee. I thought it was stronger than anything sugary, but I didn’t remember if I ever had it before. After a deep sip, my tastebuds were assaulted by the disgusting flavor. It felt like what I only assumed dirt tasted like, but the aftertaste was alright. Begrudgingly, I drank the whole thing. It took me about five minutes to do so, but I felt at least a little better afterwards.

I placed the can in the garbage and walked outside. Jake was standing down by the door, and gave me a wave. I drearily made my way to the stairs, and took my time on them.

“What took you so long?” He traced my entire person as I stepped forward. “The announcement was so long ago.”

I rubbed my eyes, my vision still a little blurry from just waking up. “I-I had to get ready.”

He shrugged and turned to the door. “I’d say a quick power breakfast, and then we check out the rest of the school. Sounds good?”

I nodded, but then realized that he would be able to see me do that from behind. “Y-Yeah.”

Even though I was failing to function, Jake was operating at one-hundred percent. I wondered if he could even have a restless sleep. It seemed comical, the Ultimate Lucid Dreamer having a rough time sleeping.

We drifted forward to the cafeteria. Because the announcement had just gone off, almost everyone was there eating. Both Jake and I scanned across the tables. Lena once again sat with Paige, Elizabeth, and Max. She looked miserable, but what could you expect when you sat with that group. I certainly didn’t want to sit with them.

Jake’s eyes wandered to our left. In the corner sat Jolly, Zach, Blake, and Austin. Without a word he walked over and took a seat.

“Hi Kai! Hi Jake!” Austin shouted as we sat down.

Blake looked up at him with his head on his hand. His eyes conveyed that he was in pain. “It’s  _ way  _ too early to be shouting”

Austin froze. “Sorry…”

Zach poked Blake in the shoulder. “Aww, what’s wrong? Didn’t get enough sleep last night?” He continued to poke him.

“I’m used to waking up at noon at the earliest. My body wasn’t built for a ten to seven sleep schedule.”

Zach giggled. “Poor baby.”

“You should go to bed at like eight today!” Austin offered. ”Maybe that can fix your sleeping.”

“Actually, it’s going to take a few days to a week to change your sleep schedule.” Jake pointed to the kitchen. “I would grab a coffee and do your best to push through it. Consistency is key.”

Jolly looked up from her Monopad for a second, but then resumed what she was doing. Blake sighed loudly and pushed himself to his feet. 

Jake stood up as well. “I’ll get some food for breakfast. Does anyone want anything?”

Zach leaned back in his chair. “Hmm, egg white omelette with chopped scallions, halved cherry tomatoes, and definitely a pinch of garlic powder.” He had that order ready and memorized. Was he just waiting for someone to ask?

“Would anyone  _ besides _ Zach like something?”

Zach rolled his eyes. “I was just kidding! Any egg white omelette will do.” 

“I could go for a bagel.” Austin gave Jake a smile, as if to ask if that was okay.

Jake nodded. “Bagel. Cool. Anyone else?”

“Bagel sounds great.” Joly finished typing before looking up. “Sesame if they have it.”

He nodded again, giving himself a mental order. “Kai, can I put you down for a bagel?”

A bagel was fine, but I actually craved sausage or bacon. “Sorry, I don’t want to ask for too much. But do you think they would have any sausage, bacon, or something like that?”

Jake shrugged. “I’ll take a look.”

“Thank you.” I spoke in a low voice, hoping I wasn’t asking for too much.

“If you won’t get me an omelette, I’ll take what Kai’s having!” Zach reached across the table and lined up his hand for a high five. “Us carnivores gotta stick together!”

My face went pale as what he said registered in my mind. I had ordered only meat. Why was I craving meat? It came again; I felt the itch. A slow itch starting on my shoulder and expanding out to my body.

Zach dropped his smile. “Are you okay?”

Everyone at the table stopped and looked at me. I took a small breath, and did my best to compose myself. “Y-Yeah, I’m fine.” Everyone kept looking. “I just didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.” Another lie. It was becoming second nature to me. I hated that I had to do it, but there was no other way to keep my secret.

Jake put his hand on my shoulder, startling me. “Do you want a coffee from the kitchen?”

I shook my head. “I already had one…”

He nodded and walked off with Blake.

Zach, Jolly, and Austin continued to watch me for a minute. Instead of waiting for them to stop, I decided to rest my head. I placed it into the table.

They both returned a few minutes later. Plates were passed around to each person, while Blake opened his second can of coffee.

The smell of cooked meat flew directly into my nose. I opened my eyes to see a platter of ham, sausage, and bacon. I’m sure it was delicious, but I had lost my appetite. 

While everyone else ate, I just picked at the food, hoping that no one would notice my lack of eating.

“Kai and I are going to head out right after this to explore the other floors.”

Jolly nodded. “Other  _ floor _ .” She opened the map again and frowned. “So the basement is closed off using a gate. We tried to move it, but Monokuma told us it was currently off limits.”

“Damn.” Jake tapped his finger on the table. “I saw that when we were first over there, but just assumed it would be opened later.”

“That’s not all.” Jolly turned her Monopad to us. It was a map of the second floor. “We have access to this whole floor, but there is another set of stairs here.” She pointed at the opposite end of the floor from where the stairs were. “This is also blocked off using a gate.”

“So we only have a segment of the school?”

Jolly nodded. “Monokuma seemed to suggest that we would have access to it later, but I don’t know what later means.”

“Well,” Jake turned to me, “looks like we’re going to have a lot more of the day to ourselves then.” 

I nodded, and he looked down at my plate.

“Are you all set?”

“Y-Yeah.”

He swooped up my plate and brought it to the trash. I silently followed him out of the room and into the hallway. We walked through the hall and made our way to the stairs.

“What’s really going on?” He didn’t look at me, but held a commanding tone.

“N-Nothing. I just don’t feel very well.”

He didn’t respond. As we reached to the top of the stairs he spoke again. “Listen. I don’t care that you’re lying to me. I just want you to know that you can trust me.” He pointed down the stairs. “I know those people down there are your friends, but you have to remember that only two people are allowed to leave this school alive.” He looked at the floor. “Those lockers were next to each other for a reason, Kai. I feel like it was no accident that we were put in the same room.”

I didn’t know what to say. Jake was putting so much out there at the same time. Was he suggesting that I couldn’t trust them? Should I be putting all my faith in Jake?

He looked back to me, making eye contact. “It doesn’t have to be now. But please, feel free to tell me what’s wrong. I’m your friend, Kai. You can trust me.”

I felt bad for lying to Jake. He was right. I probably should never have lied to him, and hiding my lab from him was wrong.  _ Maybe if I told him about my talent he could help…  _ That idea swirled through my mind as we stood atop the stairs.  _ Could I really not trust Jake? Could I afford to not trust Jake? _

“Don’t stress over it now.” He smiled. “We have plenty of time. Just think about what I said.”

I nodded and we continued. There were two paths to take. One directly left from the stairs, and one hallway a bit forward. 

“Left.” He seemed confident, and I wondered why he chose that. In reality, it didn’t really matter. We would have searched both paths eventually. 

The left corridor lead to a room with three doorways. Opposite from us were two rooms with a desk icon on it. One had the letter C and the other had the letter B. They were probably classrooms similar to the one Jake and I had come out of. It made me wonder if we would be taking actual classes during the killing game. Or maybe the killing game  _ was  _ just a prank. I pushed that idea out of my head, knowing that I shouldn’t get my hopes up.

Behind us was a wooden door, similar to my lab. It was less scratched up, and had a bear trap icon on it. But the icon was partially obscured by a note. 

Jake’s attention was immediately caught by this room. And he quickly walked forward to read the note.

  
  


_ This lab is too dangerous. You are not permitted to enter. _

_ -Monokuma _

  
  


“That’s weird…” I thought for a second.  _ Could something be too dangerous for a killing game? Wasn’t that the point? _

Jake reached for the door handle without a second of thought.

“W-Wait!” I went to stop him, but he just put his hand up.

“You read the note right?” I nodded. “Well, whoever wrote this hasn’t read any of Monokuma’s.” He traced his finger along the message. “Monokuma doesn’t write like this. We’ve been given enough messages from him to know that.” Then he pointed to the signature. “Also, Monokuma signs all of his notes as Headmaster Monokuma. This is a fake, and if it’s not I won’t be able to even use this handle.”

I was in awe. Jake was able to get that much information from just two lines. I assumed something was up, but I wasn’t able to figure it out yet. But he was right. Based on what we already know, the note was most likely fabricated.

Jake pressed down on the handle, and pulled the door open. It creaked, but besides that opened with ease. We stepped forward into what looked like a wooden room. But just like Lena’s lab, there was something off about it. The most jarring parts of it were the windows. Each side of the room had at least one window pointing out into a forest. On top of that, the ceiling wasn’t flat like most of the other rooms, it was tilted from the center. 

I realized it wasn’t supposed to  _ look _ like a room, it was supposed to be a cabin. Wooden logs made up the walls and supports; the tables and chairs were also made of wood. The general theme was a log cabin in the woods. The windows were obviously fake then, but it still had a relaxing feel that I didn’t get anywhere else.

That relaxing feel melted away when I realized what was covering the walls. At first the animal heads against the wall seemed to just be a part of the aesthetic, but then I noticed the bear traps. The walls had multiple rifles on it, with darts and bullets scattered around in cases. Different types of nets, ropes and wires were also strung from the ceiling.

I stepped forward, and felt a change of flooring. It felt like a weird carpet. But when I looked down, I saw a bear shaped rug facing towards the wall. My body flung off of it, and shivered at the thought of stepping on that. It was so gross, it even still had the head attached.

Jake moved without care around the room, looking at all the things it had to offer. He seemed excited, but to me this was terrifying. Normally I wouldn’t be happy to see all of this equipment, but in a killing game I was mortified. Whoever put the note on the door was trying to do us a service. I watched Jake from the corner, no longer wanting to be inside. He spun around in circles, not sure what he wanted to look at first. Finally his eyes landed on a section nearby the darts. There was a small assortment of bottles underneath them. He stepped forward to look at them, choosing to pick up the smallest of the bunch. 

The door creaked closed. “Unless you want to die a very painful death, I would put that down.” Violet crept slowly out from behind the door, and snatched the vial out of his hands. “I might just  _ forget _ where the cure was kept.” For her height, she was incredibly intimidating. 

“So  _ you _ wrote the note!” Jake smirked and leaned himself on the table with all the darts.

She nodded. “And you decided to ignore my warning.” Just like the first time I met her, she spoke slowly. Even though her words came out slow, they still had weight to them.

“Well, I realized the note was fake.” Jake shook his head. “And with so many examples around the school too. Didn’t take you as someone with poor craftsmanship.”

Violet narrowed her eyes, but stood still. She placed the vial back on the desk, and pulled her glove into a fist.

“I-I didn’t see you at breakfast.” It was more of a thought, but it was weird that she was one of the only people not there. Had she been here the whole time.

Violet nodded, keeping her back turned to me.

“Hmm.” Jake caught on to what I was thinking. “You plan on staying in this room for the duration of the game?”

She didn’t react.

Jake turned to the door. “Just be aware that you are bringing attention to the lab. Stuff in here may be dangerous, but I doubt anyone but you knows what it is.”

Violet kept her back towards us as we left the cabin. I was right to think that room was dangerous, but it probably was even worse than I could possibly imagine. It was amazing that Violet decided to protect the contents of the room, but I doubt Monokuma would allow that. It was a killing game after all…

We skipped the classrooms, and walked down the other corridor. There was another room right around the corner; the door was overall rather plain, but had a stopwatch on it. Jake and I proceeded inside.

The first thing I noticed was music. There was a light melody playing, that in all honestly made me a little tired. The room itself was small and square, but dark orange walls. In the back corner was a large grandfather clock with a swinging pendulum, but right in front of us was Morton. He sat on a long couch against the wall reading a book. In front of the couch was a comfortable looking chair.

“Did you need something?” He didn’t even put his book down, and carried a rather judgemental tone.

“Oh you know.” Jake walked further inward and made his way around the room. “Just exploring the school, Mort.” The left side of the room had a bunch of weird objects; there were stopwatches, items on strings, and even some weird looking instruments. Jake made sure to touch everything, which caused Morton to finally put down his book.

“As you probably noticed, this is my lab, and I would like you to leave.”

Jake stopped touching things and turned back to him. He tilted his head. “Hmm, nope!”

“I’m sorry?” Morton stood up off the couch. “This is  _ my  _ lab!”

Jake shrugged. “And there are no rules that forbid me from entering your lab.” He turned his back to Morton. “If you have a problem, do something about it.”

Morton’s face became red with rage, as both his hands pulled into fists. Instead of doing anything, he sat down and pulled up his book.

While that was happening, I noticed where the music was coming from. There was a record player to the right of the chair.  _ I wish my lab had music.  _ Then my brain became a bit more occupied with what I wished my lab didn’t have.

After Jake was finished touching everything, he picked up a pocket watch. “You know Mort, I really like this watch. I think I’m going to take it.” Without waiting for his response, Jake turned to me and pulled the door open. Morton’s face was hidden behind his book, but I could tell he was furious. Why did Jake always get this reaction from people?

We left Morton’s lab, but there was still part of the floor to explore. We followed the path in front of us, seeing where the building would take us. The hallway led up to a balcony that hung over the first floor lobby. It felt weird to be looking down on it.

After a minute or so of gazing down, we moved around to the other side. This room of the second floor was a square, shaped just like the lobby below. There was a walkway that went all the way around, but it continued on the other side.

At the end of the hallway was a staircase, just like Jolly said. It had a cage surrounding it so we weren’t able to progress. It seemed, at least for the time being, that this was the most we could explore from the academy. I decided that the rest of it was probably under construction and would be done in a week or two. It was still weird to me that the academy was under construction.

Things felt aimless with the exploration being over. It was something to do that felt like it had some kind of purpose. After we had explored everything there was to offer, the sad reality that there was nothing to do started to take over. 

Jake and I looked around the stairs. I wasn’t really looking for anything, but Jake looked like he had something in mind. I suppose we could have looked at the classrooms, but in a school without class, what’s the point? My brain drifted back to the killing game. I guessed that it was the design of the school; nothing to do meant no distractions for the game.

We decided to call it, and head back downstairs. With our maps just about full, we made our way back to the dining hall. As we walked, my mind had shifted to my lab. I had to get there at some point. I just wanted to see when the full moon would be out. I knew my life would be better if I could just shelf than anxiety. At the thoughts of the moon, my shoulders started to itch. It was almost an instant reaction. 

The dining hall was rather empty, as we took our time exploring. Everyone else had probably gone off to check out a certain area of the school. Only Max, Elizabeth, and Paige were left sitting at the main table.

Jake immediately turned left to go to a corner table, but Max waved us over.

“Jake, and uh…” She drew out the uh for a bit before resorting to Elizabeth.

“Kai.” Jake tilted his head towards them. “Jake and Kai.”

She nodded. “Kai… Well anyway. You guys sit down with us! We wanna chat.”

Jake swung himself around to me in a very exaggerated expression. He was hoping that I would say something to get us out of it, but I didn’t realize. “Oh, ok.” I made my way over to the table, and could hear Jake audibly sighing from behind me. He plopped himself next to me with a thud, and we were face to face with Max.

“It’s good to finally talk to you.” Max sat with her arms on top of the table. “I haven’t had a chance to really speak to you in a normal setting.” Elizabeth and Paige stared at us as she spoke. Their presence was weird and intimidating. 

Jake slumped back in his chair, making it as clear as possible that he didn’t want to be there. “Actually we got to speak yesterday, remember?”

Max frowned. “Well yes. It was right before an assembly. I wasn’t very patient back then.”

Jake laughed. “And you’re more patient now?” 

The air in the room felt thin. Paige looked shocked by his response, while Elizabeth tapped her nails loudly against the table.

“Do you have a problem?” Elizabeth stopped, but her face showed all of her emotion.

Jake took a long deep breath before turning to her. His voice was slow and tired. “No, I’m just making conversation.”

“We--” Max put her hand up and Elizabeth stopped talking.

“It’s fine. We undoubtedly got off on the wrong foot yesterday.” She placed her hand over her chest. “That’s why I wanted to talk. We could treat this as a first meeting. Start over.”

Jake shrugged, and I think that was way better than anything Max expected.

“Great.” She adjusted herself in her chair. “So this killing game is serious business. Although Monokuma has set himself as the headmaster, he is currently allowing the school to operate anarchically.” She paused as if to give us room to talk. Jake didn’t move, so I nodded to let her know I was listening. “I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m not about to let a murder happen in this school. I feel like a majority of the other students feel the same.”

Jake nodded this time, and I followed suit. This is exactly what I wanted to hear. Someone had to stop this killing game, and it made sense for it to be us! 

“Good.” She gave a slight smile. “The first thing we need is leadership. If we let people do what they want, I think that someone is going to end up dead.” She took another pause, taking in our expressions before continuing. “I think we should be that leadership.” She waved her arm out to the right, referencing Elizabeth and Paige. “I will be the first in command, and Elizabeth with my right hand. That way we--”

“What about Paige?” Jake’s speech had gone back to normal, but he was still sitting slouched in his chair.

Before Max could respond, Paige jumped in. “I’m third in command!” She tilted her head. “Or more realistically we would all have different jobs. This would allow us to keep more organized.” 

Max kept her gaze on Jake, taking a long time to respond to what was just said. “Yes, Paige would be our third in command. Having everyone do their part is the only way we do this.” She looked down at the table. “Actually, Paige could you get us all something to drink?” She looked up. “Is coffee good with you guys?”

“C-Coffee is a-alright.” I didn’t really like it, but I didn’t want to seem rude.

“I’ll take a soda. Preferably something citrus, but I won’t complain.” Jake on the other hand wasn’t worried about that.

Paige shot up from her chair. “Absolutely, I’ll go get some drinks!” She wandered off into the kitchen, leaving the four of us at the table.

“Sorry.” Elizabeth eyed the kitchen. “We hadn’t talked about that yet.”

“Oh?” Jake gave them a confused expression. “I think she’s a really good addition to the team.”

Elizabeth looked down, and began tapping lightly.

“She’s a big help.” Max’s tone became a bit more slow. “She actually knew Elizabeth before we came to the academy. They were friends in elementary.” 

“We were in the same friend group.” Elizabeth corrected.

“Ohhh.” Jake nodded. “So you weren’t friends?” At this point I could see what he was doing. I didn’t like what was happening, but I wanted to see what they really thought of her.

“I--” Elizabeth sneered. “She kinda just inserted herself into the group one day and never left. It never felt like she was really a part of it.” Jake took a few long nods, prodding her to continue. “There was this girl Angel in the group, and the second she started hanging around us she wouldn’t leave her alone.” Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “She was very clingy, and she’s  _ still _ very clingy.”

“So she’s  _ still _ not your friend?” Jake asked, a completely neutral expression on his face.

Elizabeth opened her mouth to speak, but stopped. After a few seconds she nodded. “Yep, that’s it. Just some clingy girl that latched onto the only person she knew.”

I watched Jake nod, and wondered how they could talk about Paige like that. She obviously thought of them as her friends, and yet they didn’t care. “W-What do you think, Max?”

At first, her face started to get red, but then she firmed up. “From what I’ve seen everything Elizabeth says is true. She’s hung around us the second this all started, and hasn’t given us space.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. How could people treat someone like this? “So you don’t think of her as your friend?”

Max shook her head. “We’re a team. I’m going to need everyone’s help to stop the killing game.”

Paige entered the room again carrying a tray of drinks.

“T-Thats… You’re horrible!” I wanted to say more, but Jake elbowed me. I turned to him, and he transitioned it into tucking the hair back into his onesie. 

“I hope you guys didn’t get too far!” Paige smiled as she placed the tray down in front of us. There wasn’t just coffee, but a pitcher of water, multiple different types of sodas, and even some juice. I picked up a juice box slowly. They were saying terrible things about her, but she still helped them with a smile. I wanted to tell her, but Jake warned me. I wondered why he did that. Wouldn’t it have been better to tell her?

“No.” Max took a coffee from the tray and took a sip. “We were actually just getting back to it.”

Jake shuffled in his seat, once again displaying that he was uninterested. I realized that it was the perfect time to sneak away. Max would be talking about her plans, and I could check the calendar.

“U-Uh. Actually, I’m gonna go to the bathroom real quick.”

Max didn’t look pleased. “Fine, but make it brief.”

“That’s a great idea, Kai!” Jake stood up out of his chair. “I actually have to go to the bathroom as well.” He turned to me with a smirk. “What a coincidence.” 

“I--” I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t have Jake going  _ with  _ me. 

Max frowned, somehow looking more upset than she usually did. “ _ Alright _ , just make it quick.”

Jake cackled. “Oh, I think this meeting is just about done.”

“No, we still have a lot to talk about.” Max narrowed her eyes. Her voice began to firm.

“Just put us down as not interested.” He tapped me on the shoulder, signalling for me to get up. I didn’t want to go; I was so close to getting to my lab. Did he know I was trying to get to the lab? At that point there was nothing I could do.

Jake waved to Max as we walked out of the room, his happy demeanor returning. We wordlessly made our way around the corner to the bathroom. I had messed up. Or maybe Jake knew. Either way I had lost my chance to go to the lab. I was going to have another sleepless night. 

I moved slowly, hoping to think of something to get myself out of this. Words and ideas shot around my head; I hoped that just one of them would be enough to work.  _ I don’t really have to go. He’s gonna realize… _

The bathroom was just a feet away, and I had nothing. Jake stepped inside, holding the door opened for me. I had no idea what to do, and just stood frozen outside. He gave me a weird look as I stood there.

“Are you alright?”

I nodded. “I-I…” My voice trailed off.

He walked outside, and tilted his head. “Did you lie about having to go to the bathroom?” His voice was quiet, but serious..

“N-N… N-No, I--.” The words jumbled as I tried to force them out.

“You weren’t trying to get away from me were you?” His tone shifted to a hurt one. “Why would you do something like that?” He looked down at the floor, trying to hide a wince.

I took a deep breath. “No, it’s nothing like that!” I needed to think fast. Something, anything. Whether he thought I was lying or not I had to come up with something.

“Then what?!” He shouted, looking at me with pained eyes. “I want you to trust me more than anything, but then you act like this! I’m at the point where I’m not even sure if I can trust  _ you _ !” He rubbed his eyes, letting his words float in the air. 

I couldn’t go to the bathroom now. If I did he would know I didn’t actually have to go.  _ Why would he go to the bathroom with me anyway? Even if I had to go, I wouldn’t want to do it while he was in there…  _ Everything slowed down for me. That was it. The answer I needed.

“I-It’s not like that…” I looked down to avoid his gaze. “I’m just really shy with this kind of stuff…” I had lied again, but this time I needed to more than ever. What was the point if my friends didn’t trust me?

Jake sniffled. “Really?”

I nodded, making sure to keep my head down.

“I…” His voice drifted off. “I’m really sorry, Kai. I hadn’t even thought of something like that.” I looked up to him, and  _ he _ was looking away. Jake had his hand on his forehead, and his eyes down. “Sorry man. This school is just getting to me y’know?” The tone of sadness from before was still lingering in his voice. “Everyone’s acting so weird, it’s so easy to think they’ll turn against us.” He uncovered his face and looked up, a smile slowly returning. “It’s good to know that we have each other, right?”

I smiled, happy to hear those words. “Y-Yep.” The words barely came out of my mouth, but I think he got the picture.

He pushed open the bathroom door. “I’ll go first, and then you can go after. Sorry for being so inconsiderate.” He waved off and the door slowly closed. I was left outside, given a second to breathe. I hated that lying was my only way out, but it was over.

I turned away from the bathroom and looked down the hallway towards the entrance. To my surprise, Jazz was right there. She was staring right at me and walking briskly down the hall. As if her appearance wasn't surprising enough, she stopped in front of me.

“Hi.” She growled, even though she was the one who initiated conversion.

“Uh, hi.” How was I even supposed to respond to something like that?

She was looking anywhere but my eyes, and shifted uncomfortably. “So, I heard your conversation.”

I froze, realizing that she didn’t appear, she just so happened to be right there. Once again I didn’t know what to do, and decided just to nod.

“It’s probably none of my business…” She shifted again, I could just barely hear her teeth grinding. She blew air out of her nose, and looked up at me with an annoyed expression. “Fuck it! Yeah I heard what just happened. I don’t care if you don’t want to hear it, but he isn’t your friend!”

I looked around in shock.  _ What was she saying? Jake’s my best friend here… _

She stared at me, expecting me to say something. When I didn’t she decided to continue. “The way he treats you is awful. I’ve only seen you guys a few times, and every time I do, all he does is order you around!”

It didn't make any sense to me. Jake wasn’t like that. I decided to stand my ground against her. “T-That’s not true!”

She recoiled in disbelief. “ _ What?!”  _ Jazz took another breath. “He talks about trust when he won’t even let you go to that bathroom!” She shook her head. “The last time too! If it wasn’t for the other people at the table he would have gone with you as well!”

“He’s just worried about me…” That’s what he said! She just didn’t get it.

“No, he’s just worried you’ll do something he can’t control!” She looked off to the right at the bathroom door. “He’s using you. I’m telling you, he’s using you!”

I shook my head again. “No.” I did my best to speak firmly. “Y-You’re wrong. He’s not like that.” She didn’t get Jake; she didn’t know him. How could someone who never talks to him understand everything?

Her face was starting to get red, and I could see this going for hours. Then Jake opened the bathroom door.

“Oh, hi Jazz.”

She flipped to the right to see him, and stopped. She turned back to me, and then stomped away.

His eyes followed her down the hallway, and then he turned to me. “What were you two talking about?”

“ _ Nothing _ .” Her words were still in my brain, and made me come off as upset. I was upset, just not at Jake.

He put his hand on my shoulder. “Kai.”

I blinked a few times and met his eyes. “She says you’re a bad person. That you’re not my friend.” I winced as I said it. The idea of it was embarrassing on its own, saying it was even worse.

Jake nodded slowly, then laughed. “I wouldn’t worry too much about her. She obviously has never had a friend in her entire life.”

He wasn’t upset. I couldn’t believe it, but he really seemed fine.

“It’s what I was saying with everyone acting weird. I have a feeling that we’re going to see a lot more of that as the days go on.” He shook his head. “Me and you against the world, Kai. Me and you against the world.”

I nodded slowly. Jazz’s words still spun around my head, but I was starting to feel better about it. If Jake wasn’t upset, then I shouldn’t keep thinking about it.

“Welp, I’m bored.” He spun around to look towards the main lobby. “Wanna go walk around outside for a while? Fresh air seems pretty good about now.”

“Sure.” Jake was right, I could use a bit of air. I had almost forgotten how stuffy the entire school was. Especially with all the people inside. Every single one of them seemed to be more angry than the last.

We made our way outside. Even if there was nothing to explore, a nice walk was what I craved. I really just needed something to get my mind off what Jazz had said. But with every moment that I tried to think of something else, I was reminded by her words.

On one hand, Jake had been a little weird at some points. He really wanted to see my lab, but I guess I did as well. It was also scary how quickly he accepted the killing game. He was so confident that we were going to have to leave everyone behind. It was a terrifying thought, but I think it was just reality. Anyone would have been foolish to think that they were going to outsmart the killing game. Jake wasn’t a bad person, he was just a realist.

As we walked down the steps towards the other half of the outside, these ideas still swirled around my head. My brain was starting to pick out right from wrong, and the idea that Jake was my friend had been prevailing. Anything else just didn’t make sense.

It was a nice day, with a few clouds sprinkled across the sky. Not enough to signify rain, but enough to give you some shade every one in a while. Jake and I continued forward, not really sure where we wanted to go. The idea was to just drift around and enjoy a nice walk.

That was halted when we got close to the broadcasting station. Both Blake and Jolly were situated outside, looking at the speakers. Blake turned around and motioned us to come over.

“Hey guys!” He shouted as we came up to the building. Blake was rocking back and forth on his heels, very excited to see us.

“Hello.” Jake yawned as we approached.

Jolly smirked, her eyes tracking from us to the building. “So, what brings you two out here?”

Jake shrugged. “Just wanted to take a walk. We’ve checked out the rest of the building, and had a fun chat with Max and company.”

“Oh lord.” Blake wrinkled his nose after hearing her name.

Jolly nodded. “I’m guessing she gave you the speech?”

“Nope.” Jake smiled and pointed to me. “Kai came up with the perfect excuse to get us out of there. A true genius, this one.”

_ I actually wanted to go to the bath--  _ My eyes widened, and I turned away from the group.  _ I never went to the bathroom.  _ My brain started to fizzle out. I had been so occupied by what Jazz said, I forgot that I was supposed to use the bathroom after Jake. Did he know? Or had he forgotten the whole thing?

The world was sucked inward, and I had lost sense of everything around me. If Jake remembered, then I would have been caught lying. It was exactly what he had said before. I would have been done for. My almost clear head was now completely fogged up. I wouldn’t have been surprised if I shut down right there.

“Kai?” Blake asked, tapping lightly on my forehead.

“Hu-- Huh?” I looked up, and all of sudden everyone was staring at me. “S-Sorry, I was just distracted.”

He put his hands through his hair. “Ah, ok. We just wanted to know if you and Jake would go back into the school, and test if you can hear the microphones from there?”

I nodded. “S-Sure.”

“Cool.” He pointed to Jolly. “You go to the second floor, and they will get the first.” He then directed himself to everyone. “Just check whatever rooms you can. We want to know what places in the school we’re going to have range for.”

I half raised my hand. “U-Uh. Why?”

Blake gave a wide smirk. “Man, you really  _ were  _ out of it!” He raised his arms up and motioned to the lab behind him. “Not like I can upload videos from here, so I might as well dabble in a bit of podcasting! Jolly and I were thinking of hosting a morning podcast just to talk about the goings on in the school, or anything in between.” He looked at me; I assumed so that he could hear my opinion.

“V-Very fun.”

“I know, right! And we can have like special guests on it, and--”

Jake put his hand up. “We should probably get going. I don’t think we want to spend all day out here.”

Part of Blake’s smile slipped away, and he returned a sad nod. “Yeah, you’re right.” He quickly rebounded with an even bigger smile. “So get going!”

We moved off back into the academy, and watched from the main hallway as Jolly went up the stairs. Jake kept his eyes on the hallway.

“You should go to that first classroom.” He didn’t turn back to say this to me. “That way we’ll finish more quickly.”

I nodded and ran off. The idea of being alone felt weird at this point. I had spent so much time with Jake that anything else was abnormal and sort of anxiety inducing.

The door opened, and I was back in the room I started in. It had a familiar feeling, a nostalgic feeling that shouldn’t have come after only a day in the academy. My eyes drifted along the locker that Jake and I had originally come out of. Something that was still super weird and didn’t make a whole lot of sense.

I continued to look around the room until I found the anomaly. His name was on the tip of my tongue.  _ Ralph _ . The well dressed boy was sitting down in the corner with a load of rocks spread out in front of him. When I finally spotted him, he had already been staring at me.

“H-Hello.” I didn’t know what else to do, he was just staring at me.

He frowned and looked down. “Hi.” His voice was low, but still adequately displayed that he wasn’t happy to see me.

“S-Sorry for barging in like this…” I looked around the room. “Blake is t-testing something...”

He picked up the closest rocks to himself, and pocketed them. “Which one is that again?” After putting those two rocks away, he folded his arms and watched me.

“Uh…” I raised my hand up to convey that he was tall. “The tall one with the red and yellow sweatshirt.”

He nodded slowly. “The  _ loud _ one with the camera.”

“Yeah…”

We looked at each other in silence. I was wondering what was taking Blake so long. It was incredibly awkward, and I just wanted to leave. Life had been so much easier when Jake would do all the talking.

“How long is this test going to take?”

“Heh…” I used this question as an opportunity to look away. “Should be any second now....”

He nodded, seemingly relaxing a bit. “Good, I’m busy right now.”

I nodded as well to show that I understood. He wasn’t yelling at me, but I felt like I was doing something wrong. It was a terrible feeling and I just wanted it to go away.

We continued to sit in silence. Now Ralph was picking up and arranging the rocks in front of him. The two that he had put away still were in his pockets, but the others were sort of scattered across the room. I guess it made sense for the geologist to be carrying a case full of rocks. It had to be heavy.

I found myself watching him work. Although there was nothing else to do in the room, it was still sort of interesting. I would have liked to get a look at some of them up close. A few of his rocks had really bright colors, and I could only imagine how good they looked from his position.

There was a slight popping sound that echoed throughout the room. Followed up by a few taps. Blake’s voice then came from practically inside the walls.

“Hello, Academy for Gifted Students. I am Blake, and this is a test of the broadcasting system. If you can hear this, great! I’m going to be doing this for a few minutes to see what rooms in the school can receive the broadcast. I hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time!”

_ Well, that settles that. I guess we can assume all the classrooms can receive the broadcast. _ I walked straight for the door, but then stopped before I left.

“Sorry again about barging in. It was nice to see you!”

Ralph looked up and tilted his head. He looked sort of shocked. “Nice to see you, too.”

I stepped out of the room and jogged down the hall to Jake.

“I could hear it all throughout the hallway, you?”

“Yep, it was loud and clear in the classroom!”

Jake nodded, and started walking towards the dining hall.

As we walked, I looked at the bathroom. I wanted to say something, but I didn’t want to remind Jake of before. I had to just let it go.

“Oh, by the way.” He spun around and walked backwards. “I popped in the bathroom while he was talking, and it doesn’t seem to broadcast into there. So we can assume none of the bathrooms will get a broadcast.”

I nodded. “G-Good thinking!”

Jake peeked inside the dining hall, and told me I could go in there. To my surprise, no one was inside. I walked to the back right, hoping that I could jump into the kitchen to test that as well. Jake waved to me and went off into the shop.

It was weird for the dining hall to be quiet. Every time I had been there, at least one group of people was there. It was weird, and sort of an eerie feeling. After a few minutes of waiting, we heard the popping sound again.

“Hello, everyone. It’s Blake again! This is the second test of the broadcasting system. There should only be a few more of these, so thank you for being patient.”

I could hear it very clearly in the dining hall, and the same was for the kitchen. It looked like most places in the school allowed for the broadcasting system to reach it.

My head looked through the possibilities with Blake’s lab as I waited for Jake in the hallway. He strolled out and gave a thumbs up. 

“Both Lena’s lab and the shop can hear the broadcast.”

We continued along. Neither of us mentioned my lab as we crossed that area of the hallway, and instead we stopped in front of the observatory.

“So, do you want the gym or this?”

“Observatory, if that’s alright?”

Jake nodded and headed off to the gym. “After this we can head back.”

I nodded and made my way to the elevator. I had to press the button to call it down, but it was there in a few seconds. When I made it to the top, I got to experience the beauty again. Something about the soft glow of purple light really made me feel comfortable. This is the kind of place that I could see myself sitting around all day.

“Kai!” I spotted Zach frantically waving his arm at me from a chair in the center.

When I made my way over, Lena and Zach were both sitting back in a recliner.

She waved to me, and tapped on the recliner next to her. “Kai, the man, the boy, the legend. Take a seat on one of these amazing chairs!”

“Did you know this place existed?” Zach asked as he shoved himself back into the recliner. “This may be the greatest place on the planet.”

I nodded while taking one of the seats. “Jake and I saw it yesterday.”

“And you didn’t tell  _ us _ !” Zach made a clicking noise with his mouth. “Can you believe it, Lena?”

She shook her head. “I really thought Kai and I were friends, but I guess that’s just been a  _ lie  _ from the start!”

They both started to make crying noises, and rolled around in their chairs.

“Sorry, guys. I didn’t know you would like this place so much…”

“You’re a monster, Kai!” Zach threw himself back against the chair.

I rolled my eyes and took a second to relax. Even though they were messing with me, Lena and Zach thought of me as a friend. I couldn’t overlook something like that, because it made me so happy. For all the horrors this school had in store, there were some great moments too.

The popping sound happened. “Hello everyone! Blake here. Did ya miss me?” There was a pause. “Just kidding! Another test of the broadcasting system, you know how it is!. Thank you, blah blah blah.”

“No, thank  _ you  _ Blake!” Zach put his hands up into the air.

I laughed to myself, and hopped out of the chair.

Lena swung her arm to grab me as I walked by. “Where are you going?”

“I have to meet up with Jake. We were helping Blake test his broadcasting system.”

Zach moved his head to look at me. “Why?”

I stood in between their chairs. “He’s trying to do a podcast for the school. So he wanted to see what rooms it reached.”

He shot up in his chair. “A podcast? And he didn’t invite me?”

I put my hands up. “I don’t think the intention was to exclude you...”

He shook his head. “The problem, Kai. Is that I feel excluded.” He flung himself out of the chair. “I will  _ not  _ stand for this!”

Zach raced to the door, leaving Lena and I alone.

“Are you coming too?”

She shook her head, eyes half closed and looking at the ceiling. “I’m too comfortable up here. I don’t think I’ll ever want to leave.”

I smiled. “Ok, well I’ll see you later.”

“Later, Kai.”

I met up with Zach in the elevator, and we slowly made our descent. The second the door opened, he shot forward and raced out the door.

“You’re not Kai.” I could hear Jake say with a confused tone as Zach sped by him.

I made my way outside, and tried to follow Zach with my eyes. “He heard there was a podcast without him and got upset.”

“Ooh.” Jake shrugged. “Well I could hear it in the gym.”

“I could hear it too.”

He nodded. “Let's go give our report to Blake.”

We made our way to the broadcasting station and informed Blake. He was incredibly happy to hear that so much of the school was susceptible to his lab. When Jolly finally got back, she confirmed that the entire second floor could hear his messages. She also informed us that Morton was  _ very  _ upset about this.

By the time we were finished with that, it had started to get late. The sun had set, so Jake and I made a quick trip to the dining hall. No one was there, so we were free to enjoy some food in peace.

After a long day, I finally arrived in my room. I felt like I did a lot more the day before, but today really drained me. I got a lot done, and was feeling good. As the moonlight shined through the window, I was reminded about my talent.

Once again, I panicked. I was outside at night. The moonlight had touched my skin. And yet I was fine. After a few minutes I mustered up the courage to look out the window. My entire body started to itch, but I had to see. The moon was a crescent tonight. It wasn’t a thick crescent, but technically it wasn’t half full yet.

Relieved, I dropped myself onto the bed. I really needed that calendar. Based on the current phase of the moon, I had time. But the biggest question on my mind had to do with how  _ much  _ time I had. There was much less of a rush, but at some point I had to get to my lab.

Although I was tired, sleep just wouldn’t come. There was too much going on; too much to think about. Everyone else had their own issues, and beyond that I had to worry about my talent. Jake wasn’t going to let up about my lab, and until I knew that my secret was safe, I had to worry about him.

  
  


_ Ding Dong Bing Bong _

  
  


The familiar chime that I then knew signified an announcement rang over the room. 

  
  


_ Hello students! It is now 10pm. _

_ The gym and the dining hall are now closed for the night! Please have a good night, and make sure to sleep tight! _

  
  


It was already 10pm. That seemed insane to me, but I guess I wasn’t great at keeping time. I was curious about why certain rooms were closed at night, but instead decided to focus on sleep. The dream I had last night hadn’t even crossed my mind until I thought about closing my eyes. I decided to go to bed, or at least try to. I wasn’t interested in another sleepless night. __

  
  


~~~

  
  


_ Ding Dong Bing Bong _

  
  


I jolted awake, for a second forgetting where I was. As I looked around the room, my eyes were able to adjust and remind me of the hellish place I was in. A tear drifted slowly down my cheek. I wiped it away with my hand, wondering why it was there.

  
  


_ Good morning my brilliant students! It is now 7am!  _

_ The gym and dining hall are open blah blah blah! Who cares? You kids get it by now! _

_ I hope you’re all rested, because this is going to be another amazing day in the Ultimate Academy! _

  
  


After the announcements, I stared at my hand. I had been crying before I woke up. The only thing I could assume was that it was another dream, although I didn’t remember it. There was no way to confirm, but I decided it was probably a similar dream. The idea of werewolves was stuck in my brain, and until I did something about it, it wasn’t going to go away.

I pulled myself out of bed, feeling generally tired. My brain was frazzled from just waking up. It may not come as a surprise, but having Monokuma as an alarm clock was not a reassuring thing. It only helped hammer in the helplessness going on throughout the academy. No matter what you did, Monokuma was always there. It was a sickening thought that incredibly was already drilled in by my third day in the school.

The idea of it only being my third day hit me slowly but hard. After only forty-eight hours, the days were already shifting together. I guess it was expected when the clearest way to tell time was by the evening and morning chime.

I opened the door wearily, and walked to the overhang. Jake waved to me from the same spot he was at yesterday. It took all the energy I had, but I waved back. I wasn’t sure how he was so energetic in the morning. 

“Morning.” Jake said with a smile as I made my way down the steps.

“Hi.” It was a very sad greeting, but it was the most I could express.

He smirked. “Another night of great sleep?”

I shrugged. “I also just woke up.”

He nodded, and then turned to open the door. “I like to wake up half an hour before the whole morning announcement. I’m not a big fan of alarm clocks.”

I wondered how he was able to wake up without an alarm clock, but decided to keep that to myself. The idea of having a full conversation was draining on its own. I needed coffee.

We entered the dining hall, and moved to the left table again. Blake and Jolly were already there. At this point people seemed to be taking certain tables, so I guess that one was ours.

“So if we wake up at six, we can get all ready for the day, and meet there at six thirty!” Jolly’s hand gestures flew around and she drew her ideas out with her mind. Blake on the other hand was listening closely, a can of coffee in his hand.

Jolly noticed us approaching the table and waved her arms at us. Her chair shook slightly, and my attention was brought to the cup sitting in front of her. It seemed to be coffee, as there was also a pitcher sitting in the center of the table.

“Hello!” Jake plopped himself down into a chair across from them, leaving one right next to him.

“Hi Jake!” Jolly was shouting. The coffee had probably seeped into her blood and went straight to the brain at this point. “We’re just talking about the podcast plans!”

Blake nodded slowly as he took another long sip from his can. He dropped it on the table, and the clanging sound it made revealed it to be empty. He reached down beside his chair, and cracked open another one.

“The plan is to do it right after the Monokuma announcement! That way it’s something for everyone to wake up to!” She excitedly lifted up her cup. “What do you think of the name, Morning Cup of Coffee?!”

Jake and I nodded. It seemed a little basic in my opinion, but they seemed happy with it.

“It’s like what people would wake up to, so--”

Jake cut her off. “Ah, I get it! Very cool name.”

Jolly and Blake exchanged gazes. Jolly was a bit more excited, but I think that was just because Blake was exhausted.

My eyes traced on the pot of coffee in the center of the table. I hated the taste, but at the same time my body craved it. As the minutes passed since I woke up, I slowly became unsure as to whether I could make it through the day without it.

“Do you want some?” I looked away, and my eyes met with Jolly. She was staring at me with a quizzical look.

“Uh, I wouldn’t want to take…” I trailed off, not sure what to say.

“Oh, it’s fine!” She spun her head to Blake, who’s eyes still seemed hazy even after diving into his second can. “Did you bring the cups?”

His head slowly turned to her, and made the up and down motions. His body moved so slowly. It was like he had to preplan every motion. He reached down beside his chair, where he had taken the second can from, and pulled out a bag of styrofoam cups. He passed them over to me, and I distributed one to Jake.

I quickly poured myself a cup, and put it up to my lips. It was vile; or maybe it was even worse than vile. The stuff I had yesterday had a bad taste, but it was  _ nothing  _ compared to the substance that I just put to my lips. It was dirt water, that was the only possible explanation. 

Jolly laughed, before turning to Blake again. “Did you bring sugar and milk?”

This seemed to wake him up a bit more, as his movements were much quicker. He looked to the side of his chair, then slowly rose back up. “No…”

“That’s fine!” She shot up from her chair, then bounced up and down around the table. “I’ll go grab it! I like my coffee black, so I forgot to get anything else… Sorry!” She zoomed off to the kitchen.

I turned to Jake. He was spinning the cup I gave him around his fingers, using it more as a toy. I realized I was still holding the pot of coffee. “S-Sorry, did you want some?”

He recoiled and stuck his tongue out. “No way, that stuff is disgusting.”

I nodded. “It’s the only thing that will keep me awake though…”

Jake shrugged. “I just get a lot of sleep. Never needed coffee.”

That made a lot of sense. I thought I  _ was _ getting a lot of sleep, but at that point, who knows. Jolly came back over as quickly as she left, and handed me a bunch of different things. As per her instructions, I dumped a load of the ingredients into the coffee. The color went from an almost black, to a very light brown. If nothing else it looked more appetizing. The sip I took was more akin to the can I had yesterday. It tasted better, but still had a noticeable aftertaste. It was the best I had, and I ended up finishing it.

People started to fill in shortly after that. Austin shot in, energetic as usual. After that, Max, Elizabeth, Paige, and Lena came in. They walked in together, but Lena walked off to our table. My eyes followed that group as they took their spot at the center table. Without even sitting down, Paige made her way to the kitchen, and it looked like Max and Elizabeth were talking.

Zach came in last. Taking his time seemed to be the most common theme with him, and at this point it was to be expected.

“Right on time!” Jolly waved to him as he sat down.

Zach did a sort of half bow from his chair. “Thank you. Thank you!”

“So we’re going to start the podcast tomorrow morning. Are you in?”

Zach nodded, scanning the table for something. “Sounds good, what time are we thinking? Ten? Eleven?”

Blake dropped the second empty can on the table, and looked down beside his chair. He revealed a third can of coffee, but just put it in front of him.

“Hmm.” Jolly approached this slowly. “Well I was going to get up at six, but we should be starting around seven.”

Zach looked up from the table with a pained look. “I don’t know… That feels a little early.”

“Content doesn’t sleep.” Blake said this with a hollow look, while his eyes were glued to the can.

Jolly nodded furiously. “I’ve been thinking about it all night! It’s the only way to get people listening.” He gestured to the rest of the hall. “Look how many people are here right now. We need to capitalize on the fact that everyone is just sitting still bored.” She stopped for a second. “Also… people will think it’s less invasive if they aren’t doing anything. If we start broadcasting to people when they are busy, they are more likely to get upset.”

“Yeah…” Zach nodded, and looked up at the ceiling. “I get it, I just don’t know if that fits in my schedule.”

I wondered what exactly his schedule entailed. He was probably just sleeping.

Jolly frowned, realizing that this conversation was already over. “Well, we’re going on at seven wether you are there or not.”

Zach nodded, not seeming too phased by this.

“I can go on tomorrow!” Austin shouted. He shouted a bit too loud, drawing attention from the surrounding room. This made him slouch into his chair.

Jolly looked to Blake, who could have been dead at this point. She brandished a smile, and talked softly to Austin. “Sorry, we don’t want to get the studio too crowded.” She continued before he could process her words. “But we are going to need special guests to keep the show fresh. So, we’ll let you know when we have a spot open.”

Incredibly, she put him down easy while also managing to make him smile. I guess that’s just how Jolly was. She knew how to talk, and she was always laser focused on getting what she wanted.

My eyes wandered to Lena, who has sat next to Blake, almost across from me. She hadn’t spoken since we sat down, and actually had her head tilted to the rest of the dining hall. I followed her eyes, and saw the group at the main table.

Max and Elizabeth had started eating, while Paige was pouring them drinks. It was really weird. There was also a large platter in front of them, one that wasn’t there before. It looked like Paige brought it out for them from the kitchen.

I felt bad for Lena. She had tried to be better friends with Paige, and yet she was always sitting with us. Paige had a stupid desire to be with Max and Elizabeth, even though they didn’t even care about her. I realized that Lena probably knew this, and wanted Paige just to ditch them. I had to tell Paige what I heard.

We all sat for a few minutes, drinking coffee and talking about whatever came to our minds. It was a nice morning, until a shrill voice rang out from the entrance.

“Hello my brilliant students!”

The room went silent, and everyone slowly turned to the entrance. He was behind me, but I didn’t need to look. It was Monokuma. He was here.

“How is your week going?” He paced forward, surveying the dining hall.

Max stood up, making herself as big as possible. “Get out. You’re not wanted here.” She seemed angry. Usually she was loud, but this was different.

“Oh wow!” He covered his face with his paws. “So hostile! So threatening.” He pulled the paws down across his face to reveal his wide smile. “Maxine, it’s almost like you forget that I am the headmaster, and you are my student.”

She didn’t say anything, but stood her ground. Elizabeth stood up with her, followed quickly by Paige.

Monokuma laughed. “Brave batch! But luckily for you, the rules forbid me from killing any of you brats!” He paced back and forth for a minute. “But I am here for a reason.” He stopped, and faced our table in the corner. “It’s been three days in my fine academy, and yet not a single one of you has tried to commit murder!” He shook his head.

To me that was great news. It was proof that Monokuma couldn’t just push us to kill people. Jake was wrong, and we were better than that. You can’t force people to kill each other.

“Honestly, I’m disappointed.” He kicked his foot against the ground a few times. “I provide you with everything you could ever ask for, and yet I’m treated like this? All I want is one teeney little murder. Just a little bit of bloodshed! And yet you kids can’t even do that for me.” His red eye glowed like a lamp, slowly growing with intensity. “It seems I’ve failed as a headmaster. I can’t expect you all to learn the curriculum on your own.” There was a long pause. It was eerie, and unexpected. Almost like he had shut off. “But, I’ve come up with a solution! A game inside a game!”

Monokuma reached behind his back and pulled out a stack of envelopes. “As it turns out, you all are dirty little liars!” He fanned out the envelopes with his paw. “As the headmaster, I can’t have you all lying to each other!” He shook his head. “Worst of all… Some of you are lying to yourselves.”

My heart skipped a beat. I could tell where this was going. In one of those envelopes was the truth about me. It said that I was a werewolf, and Monokuma was going to give it away. He was going to expose my secret to everyone. I shifted in my seat; my body started to itch.

“Truth…” He paused. “Truth is good for the soul. I’d prefer this school to be a stress free environment, so here’s the game.” He turned the envelopes around, revealing initials on the front. “Each of these envelopes holds the truth about you kids. Something that you’ve been hiding from everyone else here!”

Monokuma unfanned the envelopes, and put them behind his back. After a few seconds he put both paws in front of himself, showing that he didn’t have them anymore. “I’ve hidden each envelope in a random place, somewhere within the academy. You’re allowed to do whatever you want with whoever’s envelope you find!” He spun around and threw his arms up. “You can read it, toss it, share it, burn it, eat it! Whatever you want!”

I needed to find that envelope. There was still a chance I could hide my secret.

“But there’s a second rule to the game.” Monokuma placed his paw over his mouth, and giggled. “If I see a body before the time limit, the envelopes go away!” He began to dance in place, letting his words sink in with everyone else.

There was no response. What could we have even said to that? He wanted us to kill. It was never about the envelopes.

“And if the time limit ends without a murder, I’ll share the information with everyone in the school!” He stopped moving and stared us down. His gaze moved throughout the room like a laser. 

“What’s the time limit?” Jake asked casually from his seat. Unlike everyone else he seemed rather calm about the situation. Maybe he didn’t have anything to hide? Was that even possible?

“Hmmmm.” Monokuma swayed back and forth for a second. “I haven’t decided!”

Jake stiffened. “Are you going to tell us when you have decided?”

Monokuma laughed. “Sure, Jakey boy. Anything for you!”

Jake’s face returned to his casual smirk, but his body was still stiff. He definitely wasn’t happy with that response.

“Well, that’s all I have for you on this fine morning! So, get killing!” Monokuma turned around and skipped out of the room. He wasn’t even trying to cover up the fact that this was a motive. It was all a trick. But this trick presented real danger.

“Alright everyone.” Max boomed from the center table. “Here’s how this is gonna go.” She pointed to herself and then Elizabeth. “When you find one of these envelopes, you’ll bring it to one of us. After that we’ll destroy them.”

“And why’s that?” Jake spoke up again, choosing to do so from the comfort of his chair. He seemed less stiff. I guess he was feeling better.

Max sneered at him. “These things are dangerous. We can’t allow him to control us with his games.”

A chair across the room from me screeched against the floor, and Morton stood up. His natural frown was currently a massive smile. “I for one think that we  _ should  _ share the information with everyone. If what Monokuma is holding against us could push someone to murder, I think we should be open about it.”

“That’s a terrible idea.” Max slammed her hand on the table. “In what world should we do what  _ he  _ wants?”

“What’s wrong, Max?” Morton spoke slowly, but with a sharp tone. “Got something to hide?”

Paige cleared her throat. “This kind of arguing is exactly what he wants. The information is important, but we can’t just go sharing it without thinking.”

“Paige.” Max growled.

“I ju--”

“ _ Paige _ .”

Paige nodded. “Sorry.” She sat down in her chair, and kept her eyes on the table.

“What’s the big deal?” Jake still refused to get out of his chair. “It’s just a secret about ourselves. I’m sure we all have plenty.”

“Yeah!” A new voice joined in and drew attention to the table behind Max’s. Wattson had his arm raised in the air. When he realized everyone was looking at him, he stood up. “It’s kinda like a scavenger hunt! In my opinion it sounds kinda fun.” He looked at his feet for a second. “I’ve been a bit bored, so I don’t mind.”

“Irrelevant.” Max shouted.

“Yeah, idiot.” Elizabeth sneered at him. “The whole point is to not play Monokuma’s game. Haven’t you been listening?”

He opened his mouth, but the words didn’t come out.

“Speak.” Elizabeth stared him down. “Or did you realize how  _ fucking  _ stupid you sound?”

Wattson slowly fell back into his chair, his hands covering his eyes.

“And you wonder why they don’t want you to know their secrets.” Morton stepped away from his table, and slowly walked to the center of the room. “People like this probably have some real nasty ones…”

“Shut your fucking mouth!” Elizabeth pushed her chair back, but was stopped by Max, who grabbed her arm.

Max stepped away from the table and approached Morton. “You’re acting like you don’t have your own secrets.”

“Maybe I don’t.”

“Just kiss already!” Jake shouted. He turned to me with a smile and held up his hand for a high five. I was too caught up in everything that was going on, that I didn’t realize. After a second, he dropped his hand with a frown.

“Quiet, Jake.” Max gave him a glare, in hopes that it would shut him up. She didn’t know him.

“Ahh, man.” Jake finally sprung out of the chair, and made his way to the center. “You see, even though you act like you’re the leader, you’re not.” Morton smirked, causing Jake to switch targets. “Same to you, Morty.”

Jake turned to the rest of the room. “I don’t know about these assholes,” He pointed to Max and Morton, “but I’m going to walk out of this room. I’m going to find some envelopes, and when I do, I’m not going to share it with either of these idiots.” He smirked and looked back at them before continuing. “I have a feeling that most of you feel the same.”

Roselia bounced out of her chair and walked forward. “Exactly right. My business is my own. Once I find my envelope, I won’t be sharing it with anyone.”

Jake shrugged. “Sounds good to me.”

With that, Roselia left the dining hall. Now that Jake had given people approval, people started to leave. Jazz and Wattson walked out, both of them looking at the ground as they did. After that, Jolly, Blake, and Zach left. Slowly but surely, everyone filtered out of the dining hall.

All that was left was Jake, Max and friends, Morton, Austin, and I.

Max got in Jake’s face, trying to intimidate him. “You’re a real jackass, you know that right?”

“I’ll say it again to your face. You think you can be the leader, but you can’t.” Jake gestured to the surrounding area. “Monokuma is in control, and nothing you can do will stop that. No matter what you try, you’ll lose.”

Morton backed away, leaving the room with a sigh. He knew that Jake had won.

While Max continued to chew his ear off, I turned to Austin. His smile had diminished, and he seemed to be lost in his own thoughts.

“How are you doing?”

He blinked a few times, and reset himself. “Oh, I’m doing great!”

I nodded. “You’re not gonna go after your envelope?”

Austin shook his head. “I don’t have anything to hide. I can’t imagine what would be on the envelope.” He looked at me with a genuine smile. “I’m actually kinda hoping someone will find it and share it.”

I laughed to myself. Monokuma did all this to create a motive, and Austin wants it to be shared. It made me realize that Monokuma can’t control everyone. There would always be those who opposed him.

“Well, if I find it, I’ll be sure to give it to you.”

“Thanks!”

Jake strolled back over to the table and tapped my shoulder. “What a wild morning.”

I nodded, and expected him to sit down. But he didn't. He was waiting for me.

“Let’s go, we have some envelopes to find.”

I got up, and waved to Austin. “We’ll see you later, alright?”

He nodded. Jake and I walked to the entrance; there was a new energy to his step. After everything that had happened, Jake seemed to be rather happy about the events as well.

Before we left I looked back towards the table. Max seemed to be talking to the rest of the ground, and Paige was still staring down at the table. I actually liked what she said. She also realized that it was a trap, but Max didn’t want to hear it. That group treated her terribly, even though she seemed to be the most intelligent one there. 

I had to tell her.

Jake said something, but to me it sounded muffled. Too much had happened. It may not have seemed like a big deal, but Monokuma had started to push us. I had hoped that the killing game would go away, but I was just being stupid. Along with that, Max and Morton are starting fights. They are both aiming for leadership, but Jake was right. Why should they have been in charge? What made them better than anyone else? They both treated everyone like crap; especially Paige.

“Kai?” Jake was standing in front of me; his face was inches from mine.

“Uh, hi. S-Sorry.”

He backed up and raised his eyebrow. “You had me worried there for a second. Sure you’re good?”

I nodded. “Just lost in thought.”

“Ah, it has been a fun morning.” He placed his hand in front of his mouth. “Honestly, that went pretty well for what just happened.”

My brain had trouble understanding what he meant, and he continued.

“You think more of them would notice why Monokuma was doing this.” His eyes drifted towards the dining hall. “Max and Morton managed to simplify it for everyone.” Jake chuckled and turned back towards the rest of the school. “So, where do you want to search first?”

_ Search?  _ The idea that I needed to search had completely slipped my mind. I had forgotten that my secret was sitting somewhere in the school. If I didn’t find it, someone else surely would have.

“Kai?”

“I uh…” I looked around us, trying to decide where I would hide an envelope. Then I remembered that Monokuma made it random. But how could he make it completely random? If he hid it, then it wouldn’t be random. Was it supposed to be random for us?

“Okay!” He clapped his hands together, shaking my thoughts away. “I say we start in the classroom we came out of. Any place that people have already been to is probably not worth exploring.” He nodded confidently. “I can’t see anyone exploring a random classroom.”

I nodded, even though my experience the day before could prove the opposite. Someone looking for an empty room could explore it, or someone with the same idea. I decided not to argue, because I didn’t have a better idea.

As we moved through the halls, I wondered about the hidden letters. Maybe they weren’t random at all and there was some sort of trick to it. That would go against what Monokuma said, but there had to be some way to figure it out.

Jake opened the door to the classroom, to find exactly what I suspected. Just like last time, Ralph was sitting in the corner with his rocks scattered around. For a second, Jake frowned. He continued inside anyway.

“Nothing here.” Ralph said in his soft but definite tone.

Jake stepped towards him, causing Ralph to swiftly move some rocks into his pocket. He then crawled to the outside of the spread, and kept his eyes on Jake.

“Something wrong?” Jake took another slow step forward, causing Ralph to jitter.

“I’m busy.”

Jake paused. “I see.” After doing a quick scan of Ralph’s collection, he turned to the other side of the room. “We’ll be quick. I just want to check on something.”

Ralph grumbled something under his breath, but Jake didn’t react. Instead he walked to the far end of the room, where the lockers were. He opened my locker first, and stared into it. Jake gave it far more time than he needed to see if there was anything inside, and then closed it. Next was his own; he did a similar thing, but covered his mouth while he was searching.

The only noise in the room came from Jake searching. Both Ralph and I had our eyes locked on him. Ralph hadn’t moved from his position, and I assumed he wouldn’t until Jake left the room. I on the other hand just didn’t know what to do. There wasn’t much to look at in the room besides our lockers. I assumed that Ralph had already checked them. He did say that there was nothing here. Truly, I wasn’t very motivated by this search anyway. Something about it being a motive made me kind of sick.

Jake put his hand down, and had a pouty face. “Well, that’s disappointing.”

“I told you there was nothing here.”

Jake walked towards me and shrugged. “What can I say, I like being thorough.”

Ralph didn’t like this answer, but slowly retreated back to the corner with every step Jake took. Honestly, I didn’t know why Jake even had to search. Why would Ralph have lied?

Jake opened the door, but I stopped to turn to Ralph. “Sorry about barging in  _ again. _ I-It won’t happen again!”

It was surprising, but Ralph laughed. His wasn't loud or shrill; it was quiet, like his voice. For some reason it was weird to hear. As I left the room, I could barely hear an “it’s alright” come from the corner. It was really nice to know he wasn’t upset with me.

Jake walked backwards through the main hall. Something that at this point just felt like deja-vu. “He seems nice!”

I nodded. “Y-Yeah.”

“You’re like a magnet! You make a friend out of every person you run into.”

I nodded again, although this time it was harder to do. I hadn’t thought of it like that. I really didn’t feel like I had a lot of friends in this school, but when Jake put it that way, I guess he was right. I was truly lucky to have so many friends, and to me that made the killing game even more horrifying.

I pushed myself back on track. “So where to next? Lena’s lab?”

Jake spun back around. “Nah, Lena is probably already there. Even though Monokuma said it was random, people are still going to rush to their labs just in case.”

As it turns out, I wasn’t the only person suspicious of it being random. “What do you think?”

“Hmm.” Jake tilted his head. “Definitely random. If it wasn’t, then this whole thing would be too easy.” He spoke with confidence, and I guess he was right. The point of the motive is for other people to find out your secrets. If everyone got their own envelope, then no one would want to commit murder.

“So, then where do we go?”

We walked past the dining hall and turned the corner onto the other side of the school. Jake pointed to the right. “The observatory. At this point people have probably explored around half of the rooms. We just have to hope that we choose an unexplored one, or more likely we need to hope that these envelopes are well hidden.”

The elevator opened, and we were presented with the observatory. It seemed as though we chose wrong, because Zach, Jolly, and Blake were already inside. Jake and I strolled through, going to the center where everyone was sitting.

“Sorry, Jake.” Jolly smirked from her chair. “You’re too late!”

“You didn’t find one did you?”

She looked to Blake, and then to Zach before revealing an envelope. She waved it around in between two of her fingers.

“Damn.” Jake’s eyes scanned the room. “Who’s was it?”

She flipped it around, revealing a large red “JH” on the front. “Mine.”

This immediately caught Jake’s attention, and caused us both to step forward. The idea of reading one was tantalizing. But there was a slim chance anyone would actually let you see theirs.

“I’m sure you wanna read it.” She chuckled, and put her hand out.

Jake slipped forward and snatched it out of her hand.

“You’re going to let us read it?” I was in disbelief.

“Jolly wasn’t very concerned about what was inside.” Blake stuck his tongue out. “She’s probably the first to find one of these things and it’s not even good! No drama.” He fell back into the recliner, and looked up with a frown.

Jolly rolled her eyes. “It’s not my fault. I  _ find  _ the drama, I don’t participate.”

“Lame.” Blake rolled around in his chair.

“You caused your parents divorce?” Jake raised his eyebrow as he finished reading.

Jolly gave a large sight, and threw her head back. “Listen! I was young, and one of my dads was acting suspicious. I thought it was for a surprise or something.” She looked embarrassed, but more annoyed than anything else.

I peeked over Jake's shoulder to see the letter, and he just passed it off to me.

  
  


_ It’s your fault your parents got divorced. _

  
  


I stared down at the text. It was such a mean way to write a letter. Straight to the point though…

“That’s not the whole thing though!” Blake shot up from his chair. “Keep going!”

Jolly gave him a sharp stare. “I may have brought my dads together, and presented my findings to them.” After a few seconds of silence she yelled. “What?! I was eleven!” 

Jake raised his hands. “I didn’t say anything.” Blake also raised his hand with a smirk.

I walked the paper over to Jolly, and noticed Zach. He was just sitting quietly in the chair; I had almost forgotten he was there. He was just staring off into space, not contributing anything to the conversation. It was weird, but I didn’t want to bring attention to it. 

Instead I offered a question to Jolly. “But isn’t this supposed to be the truth or something?”

Jolly and Blake looked at the piece of paper, and then at me. Both had a confused expression.

“You seem to understand that you caused the divorce.” Jake stepped next to me, now commanding the situation. “This was supposed to be something that you were lying to someone about.”

I nodded. Jake was thinking exactly what I thought. We had only seen one envelope, and it was something that Jolly already knew.

She stuffed the letter into the envelope, not taking much care. “Well it’s  _ not  _ my fault. If my dad hadn’t been cheating, they would have never gotten divorced.” She had a sharpness in her tone, that I hadn’t seen from her before. She was half right, but the note wasn’t wrong either. It seemed to be something she hadn’t accepted.

“Fair.” Jake started scanning the room again. “Quick question. Where did you find it?”

“Oh yeah!” She reached for the remote, but Blake stopped her.

“Actually, I got it on video. Probably easier!” 

Jolly shrugged, and Blake whipped out his video camera.

“So you know how the room gets all glowly when the shade is up?” He started scrolling through the footage on his camera. “So the back of the envelope had some sort of paint on it that made it glow with the room. It was stuck onto the wall.”

Blake showed us the video. Jolly pressed the remote, and as the ceiling opened up, the glow slowly faded in the room. Then the camera trained onto the wall, where the envelope was stuck to it.

“So decently well hidden.” Jake commented for the rest of the group.

“Yep, I think Monokuma really wants us searching for them. It’s not a race.” Jolly bounced up off her chair. “But I’d rather it be that way, anyway! I don’t want just anyone getting these things.”

“So you’re going to keep looking?” Jake was eager to get going.

Jolly nodded, and tapped Zach on the shoulder. “Mhm, I was thinking of the gym next.”

“My idea exactly.” Jake smirked, and started moving towards the elevator. “I don’t mind searching with you guys, but I don’t think I’ll be as open if we find my letter.”

“That doesn’t sound like a no…” Blake said musically.

“It’s fine.” Jolly looked down. “I’m embarrassed about what happened, but I can’t blame myself for it. It feels easier if everyone knows…”

“It’s a nice way to look at it.” Jake stepped into the elevator, and kept his back to everyone.

We rode the elevator in silence. It was a good time to think about what Jolly said. Would it truly have been better to let everyone know my secret. Would it have actually made me feel better? The idea was tempting, but I just didn’t think I could do it. It wasn’t really her fault with her secret. It just wasn't the same.

The gym wasn’t crowded, but the two people that were there did not excite the group. In the far back, by the exercise equipment, was Max and Elizabeth.

“I’m out.” Jake said, doing a 180 towards the entrance.

“Same.” Zach said, marking the first thing he said since I had seen him.

Jolly followed. “I was going to suggest we look anyway, but on second thought you’re right. God forbid they try to lecture us.”

“Or steal your envelope.” Blake shivered at the thought.

As they walked away, I stood still, just staring at Max and Elizabeth. I was reminded about Paige, and how they treated her. This was also one of the few times she wasn’t with them. It was the perfect chance.

“Kai?” Jake and the rest had stopped at the door.

I turned, taking a deep breath. “I-I’m going to stay.” I waited for Jake’s reaction before I kept arguing my point. I knew he wasn’t going to let me go. But he didn’t say anything, instead he just waited. “I-I need to talk to them. About Paige.”

He rolled his eyes. “Kai, it’s a lost cause.”

I shook my head. I had to try. 

“Come on, let's just go.”

“No.” I gave as mean of an expression as I could make. “I  _ need _ to do this.”

Jake stared at me for a minute, probably trying to think of a way to get me to leave. But instead he just shrugged. “Alright.” He pointed to the group. “We’re gonna explore outside. I guess we’ll see you when you’re done?”

I nodded, and felt a strong sense of accomplishment. He listened to me, and let me do what I wanted. It felt great.

He strolled out the entrance. “Have fun!”

The door closed, and I was left with Max and Elizabeth.

I slowly approached the corner, regretting my decision with every step. I wished that Jake had actually stayed with me, because at least he could get me out of any issues. Instead I had to talk to them myself.

Max was pulling down a bar on an exercise machine, while Elizabeth was running on the treadmill. I scanned over the equipment; The treadmill was the only thing that I recognized. 

Awkwardly, I stool outside the equipment. I needed to build up the courage to talk, but I felt like it was making everything worse. I don’t think Elizabeth noticed me, but Max had been watching since we entered.

“What?” She asked, not stopping her exercise. I couldn’t tell if she looked angrier than usual, but it felt like it.

I cleared my throat and tried to speak. “I-I…” But I just tripped over myself. I wasn’t ready to talk.

“Huh?” Elizabeth rode the treadmill to the end and hopped off. “What di--” Her confused expression turned into a scowl. “Oh, what’s he doing here?”

“Dunno. I was just asking him.”

The plan that I originally had in my head slipped away, as I was left dumbfounded. I couldn’t talk down to them! That’s the kind of stuff Jake did. But I was Kai, not Jake! My mouth hung open as they stared at me.

“Kai?”

I couldn’t do it, and instead redirected the conversation. “U-Uh… Where’s Paige?” My brain was still stuck on that train of thought, but I guess the question was alright. Even if I couldn’t face Max and Elizabeth, I had to at least tell Paige. It was the cowards way out, but it was the only route I could take. “She’s usually with you guys…”

Elizabeth rolled her eyes and groaned. “I don’t fuckin’ know! I’m not the one attached to her!”

Max wasn’t phased by that answer, but she did finally stop using the equipment. We were back to silence, and I was running out of things to say.

“W-Well, why isn’t she here?” I trailed off. “With you two.”

Elizabeth sneered, and showed her teeth. She didn’t seem to be doing it to me; it was probably directed at Paige. “The bitch knew we were exercising, and would just sit around watching. Watching!” Elizabeth took a deep breath. “What kind of person just watches other people exercise? That’s so creepy.”

“You failed to mention that she was offering tips.” Max smiled, and immediately looked away from Elizabeth.

Elizabeth said something under her breath, then continued. “Can you believe that? She’s the one bringing out food everyday, and yet she has the balls to give me diet tips!” She made a mocking face, partnered with a high pitched voice. “People in your weight class could do better to bla bla blah!” She shook her head. “No one fucking cares what you think, Paige!”

The conversation was getting even more awkward. Instead of finding out where Paige was, I was listening to a rant about how terrible she supposedly was. They were honestly so mean to her. She was just trying to help.

“Yeah.” Max said loudly to stop Elizabeth from continuing. “We don’t really know where she is. She wanders off when we exercise.”

I nodded, trying to think where she could be. Both of them were staring at me again, and I decided that I wasn’t going to get anything else from them. “I--uh, thank you! Sorry to bother you guys…”

Elizabeth turned around and hopped back on the treadmill. “Whatever.”

Max shrugged and continued with her machine.

Quickly, I made my way out of the gym. That was an atrocious experience, and I hoped to never do anything like it again. After all of that I still didn’t get anywhere.

My next stop was the dining hall. It was the last place I saw Paige, so it was possible that she was still there. I had nothing else to go on.

The dining hall was pretty much empty. As far as I could tell, it was the standard for that time of day. I didn’t really know what time it was, but if I had to guess, I’d say it was nine or ten oclock. When I got a good look, there were only two people inside.

Austin was still at the table, although he was now fast asleep. On the opposite side of the room from him was Jazz. She kept her standard mean look, and watched me as I entered. We made eye contact, which reminded me of what she said yesterday.

Did she hate people that much that she would lie about Jake? Or maybe it wasn’t a lie, maybe she really believed it. In a way I felt bad for her. I hadn’t seen her talk with anyone else the entire time she was here. She was always alone, and that was really sad. I was lucky enough to make loads of friends. I assumed that not having friends made you jaded. All she needed was just one.

“Wow, the sexual tension in this room is incredible!” My head shifted to the left, and sitting next to Austin was Monokuma.

“Aww, don’t stop! This kind of stuff is primo.” He hopped from his chair to the table, and then hopped down towards me. “Sorry for ruining the moment!”

“S-Sorry, t--” I was cut off by Jazz.

“There was no moment you stuffed shit-stain.” Jazz angrily shoved the table, causing a loud screeching noise from her side of the room.

“Mmm. That’s way better!” He giggled.

“Fuck off!” She didn’t offer anything else but that. I assumed she didn’t want to give him any more ammunition.

Monokuma did let up, and instead turned his attention directly to me. He strolled forward and hopped into a chair at the main table. “Kai my boy, how are you enjoying your third day of the academy?”

“I…” There was never a second of time when it got easy to talk to a stuffed bear. The idea that there was someone controlling it just didn’t help the situation at all. “I-- It’s okay…”

He looked down at the floor. “Just okay…?” His voice sounded so sad; I felt terrible.

“No! It’s...nice.” I didn’t know what else to say, but I didn’t want to make him feel bad.

His head shot up. “That’s great! What do you like about it?” Monokuma’s little bear head stared at me, and his stuffed legs swung from the chair. If it wasn’t for the creepy face, I’d say he was even half cute.

“Uh, it’s very spacious. L-Lots of room to relax…” 

“Mhm, true. True. Have you been doing a lot of relaxing?”

_ No.  _ But I couldn’t say that to him. “I’ve been trying to.”

Monokuma burst out laughing. It was uncanny. I expected the rest of his body to move when he laughed, but I was reminded that he was just a robot.

“You’re a riot, kid!” He seemingly took a deep breath. “I don’t know if you’re just being polite to save your life, but I’ll tell ya now that won’t work! You can’t buy your way out of this!”

I shook my head. “T-That wasn’t my intention!”

He laughed again. “Wow, you sure are somethin’!” He hopped off the chair and headed to the exit. “Y’know, just for being so nice, I’ll give you a hint. She’s hanging out on the second floor.” He waved his paw to me and walked out of the dining hall.

_ She?  _ He had to have been talking about Paige. I breathed a sigh of relief, happy I didn’t have to search the whole school. I walked forward wondering what room she was in. I realized that she was probably in a classroom, as Morton was probably in his room and Violet kept her lab locked off. 

It was at that moment that I remembered about Violet. She had sworn to protect the lab, and I hadn't seen her since then. Was she even eating? Based on the conversation I had with her, I had a suspicion that she wasn’t. Paige could wait.

I quickly ran into the kitchen, and realized that I never actually went inside. It was massive! The room was more than half the size of the dining hall. There were five refrigerators, loads of produce, and cabinets spanning the entire room. Half of the kitchen was dedicated to just cooking appliances. I was shocked. We would never have needed that much food, and yet it was here for us.

After recovering from what I saw, I grabbed a large platter and just took an assortment. Some sandwiches from the fridge, some fruit, bread, some random vegetables. The goal was to get enough food to fill her up, and then have extra in case she still wouldn’t leave. When I was finally done, I headed upstairs.

Violet’s lab was still covered up, but this time it was covered in caution tape. It was confusing, because I hadn’t seen that anywhere around. The warning felt real, as opposed to the original note she left. Against my feelings, I opened the door, and stepped through the tape.

She was still inside, and gared at me from her chair in the corner. I quickly pulled the door shut, and placed the platter on the table.

“H-Hi.” Her glare froze me in place, and that was all I could get out. She yelled at Jake and I last time, and I wasn’t sure if I could go through another one. But she didn’t speak. Instead she just kept her stare.

“I-I noticed that you weren’t in the dining hall this morning, and I brought you food…”

Violet took her eyes off me for a second, and examined the plate. After a second her glare returned to me, and she finally spoke. “Why?”

Her cold tone made it sound like a tough question, but it really wasn’t. “W-Well you said you were going to protect this lab, and it didn’t seem like you were going to leave…”

She closed her eyes, and the rest of her body relaxed. Violet pulled down the mask covering her face to reveal a smile. “Thank you.” She pulled over the plate of food, and started inspecting the items. She pointed to the sandwiches. “Is there meat on this?”

I shrugged instinctively, but she looked serious. “Uh, I’m not sure. I just grabbed stuff.”

Violet began to take apart each sandwich. Each item was pulled apart and inspected.

“Are you a vegetarian?” 

She started a pile of meat on the side of her plate, and began to pick at the assorted things that were left. “No. But I will not eat an animal, unless it died by my own hands.”

_ Huh, interesting choice…  _ But I guess it made sense for the Ultimate Hunter. “You must have a lot of pride in your talent.”

She stopped, and gave me an annoyed look. “Talent… I am not fond of that word.” She took a bite from the bread before continuing. “My skills are the culmination of my training. I have spent months in the wilderness perfecting my technique. Calling such a thing talent is an insult to the craft.”

I shook my hands in front of myself. “S-Sorry! I didn’t mean to insult you or your craft!”

She laughed. “It’s alright. I didn’t mean to get so serious there.” She reclined against the table and looked up at the ceiling. “I think each and every one of us are here not because of talent, but because we have perfected the thing we care most about. One doesn’t become the best automatically. It takes hard work and pain.”

This idea made me wonder about my talent. Did I work to become a werewolf? I was pretty sure that wasn’t how that worked. Or maybe I just didn’t know enough about werewolves. Do they still follow all the fantasy rules, or is it a whole different thing?

“Do you agree?: When I came back to Earth, she was staring at me.

I could feel my face getting hot. It was always a weird subject to talk about. Up until now it felt like lying, but now it really  _ was  _ lying. “I-I don’t know my talent…”

“Ah, yes.” She nodded, and grabbed a carrot off of the platter. “When I look at you, I see someone who has gone through pain. Even though you don’t know what it is, i think you have something just as great, if not even greater than the rest of us.”

I nodded. If only she knew what my talent really was. I wouldn’t call it great. In fact, hearing it described the way made me kind of itchy. “Well, I shouldn’t stay too long. This place is supposed to be off limits!” I thought of the tape. “Oh, how did you get the caution tape, anyway?”

She smirked. “The shop downstairs. I snuck out in the middle of the night.” She took another bite of her carrot. “Monokuma sold it to me for only a few coins.”

Honestly, I had forgotten the shop was either there. I guess that proved that you  _ could  _ get anything if you had enough coins. But based on Jake’s interaction, Monokuma wasn’t going to let it ruin the game. Just like everything else, it was rigged.

“Well, I’m going to go…” I looked at the platter. She avoided the meat, but half of it was already gone. “I’ll make sure to bring more food. I wouldn’t want you to starve.”

“Again, thank you.” She looked at the plate. “I was starting to wonder how long I could even stay here…”

I didn’t know what to say, and just let the silence fill the room.

Violet obviously wanted to vent, so I didn’t stop her. “I heard the announcement this morning.” She looked away from the plate to the ceiling. A frown started to pull across her face as she spoke. “He… Monokuma is not going to wait around for us. He’s going to keep pulling strings until someone dies…” She winced, and pulled her mask up as much as she could. “I wonder if there’s any point to sitting in this room. Monokuma let me stay in here, so he obviously doesn’t see it as a problem. Am I just wasting my time?” She looked off to me, her eyes conveying her feelings.

I tried to think of the best response, but I didn’t have one. Instead of trying to lie, I told her the truth. “I really don’t know, but I think you’re right. Monokuma has been pulling strings the entire time we’re here. No matter what we do, he never seems to be bothered.” I looked down at my feet. “I think what you’re doing is a good thing, but I don’t know if it’s going to stop the game.”

She nodded slowly. “Thank you for listening. I have a lot to think about…”

I nodded, and turned to the door. “I’ll bring you food for dinner.”

“What I have is fine for right now.” She paused. “But if you could maybe bring something after breakfast tomorrow…”

“Sounds good.”

I moved out the door and through the caution signs. Violet was right. This game is ongoing to matter what we do. Monokuma always seems to have some sort of trick up his sleeve. I wondered if we could actually stop the game; if there was maybe a way to beat it. I needed to think more about that, but for now I had to speak to Paige.

The classrooms faced me, and I again realized what I had to do. Anxiety flowed through me and took control. I didn’t think I could do it.

But it didn’t matter what I thought. I  _ had _ to do it. My mind wanted anything else, but I pushed forward into the door of Classroom B. There was no one there, and I breathed a sigh of relief. The anxiety that had built up slowly seeped out of my body as I stood in the doorway.

As fast as it left, it came back again. This wasn’t over, I still had to talk to her. I stepped backwards and placed my hand onto the doorknob of Classroom C. Slowly I turned it. My hand felt as though the knob was resisting. Every muscle I had tried to slow me down.

Finally I shoved opened the door, and was met with Paige and Lena. Unlike the room Jake and I started in, this room was filled with desks that you’d expect in a normal school. They were lined facing forward, with a chalkboard towards the end of the room. Paige sat towards the back with a book in hand, while Lena sat a few desks away. 

“Kai!” Lena shouted from the room, beckoning me to come in.

Begrudgingly I did so; I still wasn’t ready to face Paige. At this point I thought that talking to Max might even be easier.

Paige put the book face down on her desk, and watched me take a seat. “Hello.”

“Hi!” I started with that, hoping that one of them would push forward the conversation. I honestly wasn’t sure where to start.

But instead of speaking, they both stared at me. They probably didn’t want to start the conversation either.

“N-Nice book! Where did you get it?”

She smiled and picked it up, making sure to place her finger where her place was. “Right? When I investigated the Monokuma shop thing, I asked if he could get me something to read. It was only ten Monocoins!” She showed me the front of the book, proudly. It was called “A Not-So-Happy Medium” and pictured a little girl on it.

“Good book?”

She frowned. “Yeah… It’s very sad though.”

I nodded, and looked over to Lena for help. Her eyes were somewhere else, and this conversation had seemed to lose her. She probably wasn’t going to be any help. I needed to just go for it. But it was so hard to confront someone.

“So what brings you up here? Aren’t you usually with Jake?” Paige’s question thrusted me into the conversation I was trying so hard to tip-toe around.

“Well, I…” I looked at Lena again. She was completely zoned out. “I-I…”

Paige tilted her head.

“I’m here to talk about Max and Elizabeth.” I closed my eyes for a second, and could feel my face heat up. It was too late to run. I had already said it.

“Oh?” She seemed less confused, and now just more curious.

:Yeah…” I tried to think of what to say next. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that I caught the attention of Lena. There were more eyes on me, but I knew what I had to say. I took a deep breath. “D-Do you like them?”

She smiled and nodded. “Of course! They’re my friends.”

Lena’s chair scraped against the ground. We both looked over to her.

“Sorry, leg spasm.” She gave a forced smile and I continued. 

“D-Do you think they l-like you?” I struggled to get that one out. It was incredibly difficult to tell someone this.

She gave me a confused expression. “Yeah. Why do you ask?”

“I… Uh…” I looked down at the desk. “Because they.... Uh…” I looked to Lena, who had her eyes trained on me. She moved very slowly, and nodded. 

“They don’t like you!” My eyes widened. I knew I needed to just push it out, but I didn’t mean to shout. My face burned red; it was incredibly hot to the point it started to spread to the rest of my body. I couldn’t even look at her. My brain was having a panic attack, and my body just sat there frozen.

“What?” Her voice was low, but I couldn’t tell if she was angry.

I slowly pulled up my eyes, and saw a face full of pain. Paige was trying to capture so many emotions at once, she looked as though she broke.

“What?” She repeated it again, this time it was way more loud. 

“I-I…” My throat was closing on me. I didn't know what to say. Everything that I thought about saying was gone. My mind was completely blank. This was usually the point where Jake would have come in and saved me. But he wasn’t there. I was alone.

“What are you talking about? Why won’t you say anything?!” Her voice was rising with every word. 

“Paige!” Lena stood up from her desk. “Why not hear him out? He’s probably just nervous.”

“Not this again, Lena!” Paige placed her hand on her head. “Did you ask him to do this?”

Lena shook her head wildly. “No. No! I swear I didn’t!”

Paige looked to me, and then the door. “But before. You seemed really excited when he came in…” She slowly turned her head to Lena. “Why are you doing this to me?” Paige started to sniffle as she spoke.

“Paige, I didn’t do this!”

I put my hands over my face and shouted again. “S-Stop!” I didn’t know what else to do. My words came out weird, but the shouting did stop. When I finally removed my hands, both of them were looking at me. I quickly wiped my face, and prepared to speak.

“I-I heard them Paige. Yesterday, when they wanted to talk to us.” Tears were slowly but constantly coming down my face. It was so difficult to do this. How was anyone capable of doing this? I thought for a second about Jazz, who said something similar. How did she do this without crying? I couldn’t focus on that though. “They both said you w-weren’t their friend. They said mean things about you…”

She shook her head, an angry expression forming on her face. “You’re a liar.”

“Paige!” Lena shouted, placing her hand on her head. She rushed over to Paige’s desk and put herself in front of her. “You can’t just keep telling people they’re wrong. I said it, and now he’s saying it. They’re bad people!”

Paige shot up from her chair and backed away. “No! You’re both lying.” She backed into the wall; a clear expression of rage covered her face. “They are my friends. How many times do I have to tell you this? I’ve known them years before I even knew you!”

“B-But…” I raised my hand from the chair, drawing their attention. “They make you do everything, right?”

Lena swung her hand towards me, and looked at Paige. “I said this! I’m not the only one that notices!”

Paige just shook her head.

“Th-they’re at the gym right now. They say you’re c-clingy!” The tears were starting to get in my mouth as I talked. What ended up happening was my greatest fear. The last thing I wanted was to get into an argument with Paige.

“They’re just joking! God” She faced the wall and slammed her fist against it. “You two just don’t understand our friendship dynamic!”

“Paige…” Lena stepped forward, and reached her hand out. “I would never lie to you. They hate you. You’re so much better than them.” She reached for Paige. “Please…”

“No!” Paige slapped her hand away, and sneered. “Stay away from me Lena. If you can’t respect my friends, then I don’t want to talk to you.” Paige shook her head and stepped backwards towards the door. “You’re a liar, and I know you put him up to this.”

I shook my head. I wanted to shout “no” and convince Paige. But I just couldn’t. This was too much for me. I put my face down on the desk and started sobbing. It was the worst possible outcome. Why did I do such a terrible thing? Why couldn’t she see what I saw?

“Paige, please!” Lena begged, and tried to slowly move towards her. “Just think about it for a second! They hate you! They’re the worst!”

I could hear Paige opening the door. “No, you’re the worst Lena. Stay away from me.”

The door slammed, and besides the sound of my wheezing, there was silence. I messed up; I did everything wrong. Jake was right again. He knew this would happen, and he tried to warn me. But I was too stupid. The entirety of my face was now wet. Each of my tears just pooled up against my face as I sat at the desk.

“Kai?” Lena’s hand slowly gripped my shoulder, and I could hear her sitting down. “You don’t have to cry, she’s gone.”

I didn’t want to cry, but it just kept coming out. I just wanted to go home, or maybe leave the academy. This was all just too much. Everything was terrible. There was a motive for us to kill, everyone hated me. I just wanted to go away.

“I’m sorry, Kai.” Lena stood up, and her chair skidded backwards. “I’m sorry that you got brought into this. I’ve been trying to tell her this since day one. I know those two are bad for her, but she never listens!” She kicked one of the chairs. “I tell her every single day, and all she says to say is that they’re her friends. If they were her friends then they wouldn’t be treating her like crap!” 

Lena’s talking started to pull my mind away from what had happened, but I was still crying. I didn’t know if it would ever stop.

“But seriously, thank you.” Lena sighed. “I can never thank you enough for trying to help her. Coming up here and talking to her was amazing…” She trailed off and sighed again. “She may not act like it, but you’re a good friend to her. I can tell you’re a good person.”

The tears were starting to stop, but I kept my face planted against the desk. It was kind of comfortable here, and at this point I didn’t really want to return into this world.

“Can I do anything for you?” 

I shook my head against the desk, the motions of which felt really weird. There was still a puddle sitting on the desk. It almost made me miss water; it was like I had a fond memory of it.

Lena and I sat there in silence for a while. I don’t really know how long, but I just couldn’t force myself to get up. She didn’t say anything, but she stuck around. She did often move around the room, but the idea that she was there felt nice.

I pulled my face up, and looked over to her. She was staring over at the back of the room. In the top corner, there was a web. It was hard to see, but there was a spider sitting up inside, slowly moving throughout. The web was mostly built, but the spider still bolted around to make it bigger.

“Have you ever been up in the air?” Lena didn’t look at me, and was still focused on the spider.

I shook my head. “I don’t think so. I don’t really remember anything from my past.”

Her neutral look faltered for a second, but she continued to look. “It’s really peaceful. Up in the sky there is almost nothing around, but at the same time you can see everything.” She lifted her hand up and moved it slowly through the air. “There are so many animals that have the ability to go up in the air… I wish I could be just like them.” She was following her hand now, and stuck with it as it flew around. “A bird doesn’t need a massive plane to fly around. It can just pick up and leave. I really do envy that freedom.” She put her hand down and looked towards the mostly covered window. “Now more than ever.”

I knew how she felt. It felt like everything was constricting around us. Every day this massive campus felt smaller and smaller.

“Do you think we really can get out?”

I thought for a second. “Yes. I’ve come to accept that Monokuma has us trapped in his game, but I don’t think he can make us turn on each other. If we work together, he’ll never be able to break us.”

Lena smiled and stared at her hand. “Good. I’m going to hold you to that.”

I nodded, and she stood up from her chair. “I’m going to head out. I really need some fresh air.” Without another work she jogged to the exit and raced out the door.

It was about time that I went back and met up with everyone else. I had done what I set out to do, even if I failed. At this point I just wanted to sink back in bed.  _ Bed…  _ I remembered the moon, and knew it would be the perfect time to run to my lab.

I waited a minute so that Lena would be a bit away, and then I raced outside. Slowly, I snuck down the stairs and around the corner. It wasn’t my intention, but I set up the perfect situation to get away from Jake and into my lab.

As I walked down the halls, I thought about why I was still hiding the lab from Jake. If I learned anything that day it was that he was a great person to have around. I rounded the corner to the lab, making sure no one was around.  _ Maybe I should show Jake inside. At this point is there anyone else I could trust with my secret?  _ I thought back to what had just happened with Paige. She had a similar reaction to how I react to Jazz.it was weird, and made me feel uneasy. Had I been wrong? I pushed the thought out of my head. I had heard Max and Elizabeth say these things about Paige; Jazz just had a hunch based on her few interactions. I shouldn’t try to second guess myself.

I slowly opened the door and slipped inside. The contents of the room were fresh in my mind again. I was reminded about the real reason why I didn’t tell Jake. The room was horrific, covered in blood, and a clear sign that I was dangerous. It was better that no one knew about this.

The calendar was on the side of the room, right above the nightstand. I moved over and read it carefully. If the first day was a crescent, then day eleven was the full moon. I had eight days until then. I could be safe from any kind of transformation until that day, and then I should have been fine for about a month.

I breathed a sigh of relief. It didn’t make me feel better about my situation, but it was nice to know that I had some time. I looked down at the nightstand, and was shocked at what was right in front of me. An envelope was sitting right on top of it. It wasn’t even hidden…

I turned it around to reveal the initials “JF”. I ran through the list of students in my head, making sure I had the right person. What luck would it be that Jake’s letter was in my lab of all places? It was a good thing I checked.

The envelope felt heavy in my hands, sort of like I shouldn’t have it. Part of me wanted to read it, but that would be a breach of Jake’s privacy. We were friends, and if he wanted to let me see what was inside, he would. I pocketed the letter, and knew that I should just give it to him later.

I looked around the lab one more time, taking in the disgusting feel that emanated from it. I had no other reason to be there, and decided just to leave. The place made me all itchy, and I never felt comfortable being there. Out of all the places in the academy, it was the worst.

My feet clacked against the hallways as I made my way towards the front entrance. I wondered if Jake would be happy that I found his letter. It was so crazy that I would be the one to find his. It was kind of exciting. 

I made my way out the front door, and started to wander forward. We never decided to meet somewhere, so I realized that I had no idea where to go. Without direction, I just went forward. I hoped that I would just stumble into them.

After walking a bit, I saw Jake sitting outside the dorms. He was alone, and waved to me as he saw me approach.

“Heya.” He stood up, and brushed off his pants.

“Hi.” I looked around for everyone else, and he noticed.

“They got tired of looking, so we split up. I think they went to get food at the dining hall.”

I nodded. “And you’re out here?”

He smiled. “I decided to wait out here for you.”

The idea that Jake waited out here for me made me feel all warm inside. It was really great to have friends.

“You really took awhile…” He stepped closer to me and looked me up and down.

“Yeah…” I looked at my feet. “There was a lot of shouting…”

He laughed. “Well, that’s what happens when you try to help people who can’t be helped. There’s no saving people like that.”

I frowned. “I had to try though…”

He shrugged. “Did you have fun wasting your time?”

My body started to emulate the feeling from right after the argument, and I could sense tears coming. I took a deep breath and pushed the thoughts out of my head.

“Listen.” He put his hand on my shoulder. “You have to remember what I said before. Not everyone’s going to make it out of here. You need to have your eyes on number one.” He smirked and pointed at himself. “And number two of course!”

I hated it when he talked like this. How could I just give up and let people die? It wasn’t fair, and I was never going to let that happen. Even if people died, I could never live with myself if I didn’t at least try to save them. I felt his letter against my side, and decided to keep it there, for now. His attitude made me upset. If he was going to act like that, then he didn’t need to read his letter.

“Talking to Paige wasn’t a waste of time.” I wiped my eyes. “She didn’t believe me, but at least I tried to help her. That has to be worth something.”

Jake shrugged again. “It’s funny, her envelope is the only one we actually found.”

I kept my eyes down. “Really?”

“Yep.” Jake started walking back towards the school. “We decided to pass it off to Lena; she was out here before. Shame we didn’t get to read it.”

“Yeah, I guess.” I tried not to sound unenthused, but I was just done with the day. It was exhausting to be at this school. I was already getting tired.

And this pushed around the rest of my day. Jake and I proceeded to the dining hall to have dinner. I was more quiet than usual, and Jake noticed this, but he didn’t try to prod. We ate quietly, and after that I went back to the dorms.

I placed Jake’s letter on my nightstand. Maybe I should have just given it to him. I pushed the thoughts out of my head, knowing that I could just give it to him tomorrow. He just made me so upset sometimes… 

I fell into bed. It had been a terrible day, and I didn’t think the next would be any better. Every day in that school was going to be exponentially worse, I could feel it.

I wanted to help everyone. I wanted to stop the game. I wanted to know about my past. There was too much confusing stuff going on in that game, and I felt like it was up to me to figure it out. Everyone else was busy with their own problems; it was like they didn't even care. I wasn’t sure how, but I would help everyone. Jake and I would stop this killing game. We had to. If we didn't, who would?

As I stared at the ceiling, my eyes slowly started to close. I fell asleep hoping for a better tomorrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! This is part 2/4 for this chapter.
> 
> I'm going to do part 3 on Sunday, and the final part on Wednesday of next week. (The 10th anni)
> 
> I hope you enjoyed!


	4. Chapter 1: Rose Colored Glasses - Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Monokuma has introduced a motive. Now everyone's secrets are up for grabs. I just hope that nobody finds mine.

My eyes opened to the soft crackling of fire. My body felt itchy, and the ground felt wet. As I looked up, my brain started to process the things that I just realized. Fire. Ground. I was in a dream.

As opposed to my last dreams, it was more quiet. There wasn’t any screaming, just the soft sound of fire. Fire itself was pretty scary, but for some reason it felt peaceful. I rubbed my eyes and looked in front of me, wondering what horrors had in store.

Bodies. I jumped backwards after seeing the multiple corpses lined in front of me. The ground was wet; it was covered in blood. Same with my hands and clothes. Again, the entire surrounding area was covered in blood.

But I recognized something. First a weird hat, then a collared shirt, then a jumpsuit. The blood stained clothing on the ground seemed immediately familiar. I blinked and dragged myself forward, half knowing what I was about to find. Jolly, Austin, Lena, Blake; their bodies were lifeless on the ground in front of me.

My breathing moved in sporadic directions, and my body froze. I wanted to move backwards, but I couldn’t. The world held me down as I stared at the corpses of my friends. My eyes moved up, and scanned the other bodies. Violet, Max, Elizabeth, Paige. I closed my eyes, but could still see the crimson stains on them.

I held my hands tightly against my face; they were also covered in the red liquid. My eyes opened slowly, and I stared at my hands. They were soaked with the blood of my classmates; my friends.

  
  


_ Ding Dong Bing Bong _

_ Good morning, students! It is now 7 am.  _

_ How’s the motive treating you? There’s no better learning experience, than learning about yourself! _

  
  


As the tears dripped down my face, I opened my eyes into the real world. My chest pushed up and down, emulating the breathing from my dream. I quickly touched my hands together. They weren’t dry, but they weren’t covered in blood. I couldn’t say I was relieved, but it was at least something.

I stared off at the ceiling, thinking about my dream. Was I really going to kill them? After doing my best to help people, was I the one who was going to kill? I took a deep breath and pushed those thoughts back. I knew that kind of thinking would only lead to issues. I wasn’t going to hurt people; I was going to save them!

With a burst of positive energy, I shot out of bed. The idea of spending more time in this academy was not something I looked forward to, but I had to think positive. I was going to help people!

I pushed my door open with a smile on my face. If I was ready to greet the day, then I would surely have a better time. Dreams are just dreams, and were no reflection of my real self. I don’t hurt people; I help people!

Jake was in his usual position, and gave me his standard morning wave. I hopped down the steps ready to greet him.

“You look happy today.”

I nodded. “Just thinking positive!”

He laughed and turned to the door. “You really are something else.”

We moved outside, and I took a breath of the beautiful morning air. It felt great, and although I wasn’t a huge fan of the sun, today it gave off a nice warmth. “You know, I just decided that I need to be more positive. This school is so stressful. It’s the only way to get through."

Jake shrugged. “Eh, I like to think with reality in mind. Trying to push yourself to think positively or negatively will just make you blind to the things going on.”

My mood was immediately murdered on the spot. Jake was right. I can’t just force the negative thoughts out of my head. The dreams were terrifying, but they reminded me of a clear issue I had. My body itched as the thought brushed through my head. I decided not even to think of the word and just continue. 

He looked back at me because I was now just staring off into space. “Uh, sorry. Thinking positive is cool!”

I shook my head. “It’s fine. I just haven’t been sleeping very well.”

His eyes lit up, and he rushed next to me. “Really? What’s the issue? Is it temperature based? Maybe the bed is too rough?” He stopped and stared at me with his jaw open.    
"Or is it… A nightmare?”

I realized that I shouldn’t have said anything. Jake was absolutely the wrong person to bring this up to. Or the right person… If anyone could have helped me with my dreams it would have been Jake. I turned back to him. “Y-Yeah. I’ve been having some bad dreams.”

“Wow!” Jake shouted and skipped into the air. “That’s so cool!”

My face automatically formed into a frown, and Jake realized what he was doing.

“Ah! Sorry!” He ran up to me and pulled me forward. “That’s terrible. What are the nightmares about?” He added another bit. “If I may ask…”

I looked at him, and saw the genuine interest in his face. If I told him, I’m sure that he would be able to help me. But I couldn’t tell him everything. He wouldn’t even need to see my lab if I did.

“I-I… I see people dead.” I paused, trying to think of the best way to explain this. Jake stared at me, hanging on every word. “Sometimes they are…” I lowered my voice as we entered the school. “People in here.”

Jake nodded, and placed his hand over his mouth. “Interesting. Seeing your classmates dead. Definitely a product of the killing game.” He looked around as we walked, trying to decipher the dream in his head. “I’d say it represents the fear that everyone in this school is going to die.”

I nodded. For the most part I was able to understand what it meant. I just didn’t know how to make it stop. “I-Is there a way to get rid of the dreams?”

Jake looked down at the floor, and then gave me a sad expression. “Unless you can get rid of the thing that’s bringing you this stress, you’re probably going to have similar dreams.” He motioned to the school. “Sorry.”

I nodded. He was right. I can’t un-werewolf myself. The hairs on my body shifted as the word entered my brain. I rubbed my arm to make the feeling go away. As long as I was a threat to the school, I would probably still have those dreams.

We entered the dining hall and took our usual table. We were the first ones there, which seemed a bit weird. Then, there was a popping sound.

  
  


_ [Jolly] Hello students of the Ultimate Academy! I’m Jolly Hawkins.  _

_ [Blake] And I’m Blake Orecchio.  _

_ [Together] And we’re the Morning Coffee podcast! _

  
  


Jake and I looked around as their voices filled the room. I had forgotten that they planned to do this so early in the morning.

“I’m going to get breakfast.” Jake didn’t seem too excited by the podcast, and stormed off towards the kitchen.

  
  


_ [Blake] “So Jolly, we’ve been in this Academy for four days now. Can you believe it?” _

_ [Jolly] “Nope. Not at all. Time doesn’t feel real while we’re here.” _

_ [Blake] “I know what you mean. I’m still getting used to the sleep schedule.” _

  
  


It was really weird to hear them talking over the announcements. I wondered how long they were going to do that; it seemed like something that would get boring fast. While they were still doing basic introductions, people started to come in. Ralph took a spot in the back of the room, while Jazz followed suit shortly. She gave me her daily stare, which as per usually made me feel uncomfortable.

Austin jogged in with a big smile on his face. “Can you believe this!” He pointed at the ceiling.

I nodded. “It’s nice to see that they’re actually doing it. I wonder how everyone else feels.”

He tilted his head. “On one hand I hope they love it, but on the other, I want to be on it.” He smirked. “This entire room is my competition!”

“True. You need to get on there fast.”

“Yeah, I’m gonna ask them if I can go on tomorrow!”

Jake slid back into this chair with the usual platter. He quickly cracked open a can of soda and started chugging it.

“Isn’t it a bit early for that?” Austin looked concerned. 

Jake shrugged and took another long sip from his drink.

  
  


_ [Jolly] “So Blake, I have to know, what’s your thought on this whole motive situation?” _

_ [Blake] “Hmm. Honestly, not a big fan of the word motive. I do think it’s going to make the next few days very interesting.” _

_ [Jolly] “That’s a word for it! Do you think we could actually have someone kill over this?” _

_ [Blake] “Nah, we’re under a lot of pressure right now, but we’re all still level headed. I still think Monokuma is doing all of this just to scare us.” _

_ [Jolly] “If everyone else’s letter is anything like mine, I don’t think we’ll actually have a murder.” _

_ [Blake] “Yeah, yours isn’t too bad, but who knows what else is on those letters? Everyone has secrets, y’know?” _

_ [Jolly] “Yeah” _

  
  


Max and Elizabeth strolled through the door and went right into the kitchen. I watched the door to see how Paige was doing, but she never entered.

Violet was the next through the door, which was unexpected. She looked around the room, and jogged over to our table. “Hello, Kai.”

Jake looked to her, and then to me. Instead of saying anything, he took another sip from his soda.

I think she was smiling, but I couldn’t tell from the mask. “I thought about it all of last night, and I decided to leave the lab.” Violet looked down for a second. “I can’t stay in there forever… I’ve decided to be realistic, and hope that we can all work together. It’s just like those two said, we all have level heads.”

I nodded. Not sure what to say. I was happy that it was her own decision, but I still didn’t know what the right answer was.

“Thank you for talking to me and bringing food. I really appreciate it.” She left us and walked off to the kitchen.

Jake put the can down and leaned in front of me. “You were  _ really _ busy yesterday, weren’t you?”

“I… Uh….” I didn’t know how to respond. What if he was suspicious. If he knew I didn’t just see Paige, maybe he thought I went to the lab? I started to panic, unsure of what to do.

“Listen up!” Max’s voice boomed over the dining hall. Jake and I both turned to her. She was standing on the center dining room table, and Elizabeth was standing next to her holding something. “At the end of the day, these envelopes are nothing but motives. They are weapons handed down by Monokuma to make us fight!” She pulled two out from her pocket. “As I said yesterday, I’m not going to let that happen.”

She hopped off the table and grabbed the object out of Elizabeth’s hand. She set it onto the table and pressed a button. A small flame came out of it, revealing it to be a portable burner. Max held up one of the letters. “Who’s AL?” 

Everyone looked around the room, but I quickly realized who it was. Austin sat shakily in his chair, not sure what to do.

“Well?” Max shouted again, scanning the room.

“M-Me!” Austin stood up, and raised his hand.

“Name?”

“A-Austin…” 

Max held his letter over the flame. “Well, Austin, you don’t have to worry about this student motive anymore!” She put the envelope into the flame, and it slowly caught flame. After it was mostly burned, Max tossed it to the ground and stomped on it.

Elizabeth stepped up to the flame and put an envelope in.

“Huh?” Max looked at her weird, seemingly confused that she had it.

“I’m burning my own letter.”

Max nodded. “Elizabeth is burning her own letter! I suggest that you all do the same if you find it!” She surveyed everyone watching. “We won’t be controlled by Monokuma. He doesn’t have the power, and he  _ never  _ will.”

Elizabeth stomped on her letter, and Max pulled out the second one.

“JV?” 

Jazz shot up from her seat. “Me.” She strolled forward. “Leave it on the table, I want to see it.”

Max stared her in the eyes and put the envelope into the flame.

“No!” Jazz sprinted at Max, who tossed the letter to the ground and received her. Jazz had tried to tackle her, but Max stopped her.

“You bitch! That’s my fucking letter!” Jazz struggled in Max’s bear hug. “You have no right!”

Elizabeth stomped on the letter, leaving it as a pile of ashes on the ground. Max pushed Jazz onto the floor. “You can’t let Monokuma control you! These letters are evil!”

Jazz stood up, and stared at Max. Instead of fighting she turned around and stormed back to her seat.

“Anyone else have letters they want to get rid of?” Max looked around, gesturing to the fire. “This is the  _ only  _ way to stop this. We cannot let ourselves be controlled!”

No one else moved or said anything. I looked over to Austin, who was looking at the floor.

“Sorry. I know you wanted to see what it said…”

He shook his head and put on a smile. “It’s okay! It was probably something mean anyway.”

He was probably right, but that didn’t give Max the right to burn it. My mind wandered, wondering what Monokuma thought of this whole situation. He absolutely wasn’t happy about it, but what could he do?”

Lena slid into the room and made her way to our table. She took a seat in between Austin and I, and quickly scanned the room. “I-Is Paige not here?”

I shook my head. “Haven’t seen her.”

Lena nodded and looked down at the table. Her hands reached forward and grabbed an apple from the tray. “R-Really weird how she didn’t come in with them.”

“Yeah…” I hoped nothing happened. But Lena seemed pretty suspicious. I looked over to Jake, who had his eyes trained on her.

“You’re a bit late. Busy morning?” Jake’s tone of voice was sharper and more direct. I think he caught on. 

She took a bite into the apple, and looked at the doorway. “Y-Yeah. I waited by her door like I do every morning, but she didn’t come out. I just assumed that I missed her…”

“Interesting.” Jake leaned back in his chair. “And you’ve just been at the dorms the whole time?

She looked at Jake with a confused expression. “Yeah, why?”

“No reason.” He tilted his head to look at her. “You just seem a bit nervous.”

Lena clenched the apple and blinked a few times. “Really? I… Uh…” She paused, seemingly thinking about what she was going to say. “I-I’m just worried about her…”

To me that was evident, but why was she worried? Maybe she was sleeping in.

“Fair enough.” Jake took a long sip, and placed the empty can lightly on the table. “By the way, did you give Paige the envelope yesterday?”

Lena nodded slowly.

“She would talk to you?” I asked, surprised after what she had to say to us.

Lena shook her head. “No, she only stopped walking when I said I had her envelope. I tried to talk to her, but she said she didn’t want to see me.”

“Sorry…”

We sat in silence, as not even Jake knew how to respond to that. Or maybe he just didn’t want to. After all he thought Paige was a lost cause. I tried not to stare, but I kept my eyes on Lena. She did the same thing as before, and laid her head on the table. She was watching the doorway.

After a few minutes, Lena’s head shot up. Jake and I turned around to see Paige stomping through the entrance.

“Monokuma!?” She shouted, standing in the entrance looking around. “Come out here!”

Her eyes locked on the entrance, and surely enough, Monokuma waddled through into the dining hall. “Did somebody call?”

“Yeah.” She had a similar tone to yesterday, but she seemed more calm. “I did.”

Max stood up out of her seat. “Paige?”

Paige didn’t even turn around. Instead, she kept her eyes on Monokuma. 

“Ooooo. Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed!” He giggled and danced around her.

She put her hand into his face, revealing an envelope. “This stuff is all fake.” She held the letter above her head. “All lies!”

Monokuma stopped dancing, and put his paw over his face. “Lies?” He laughed maniacally. “I can assure you everything on that paper is nothing but the truth!”

“Liar!” She stomped her foot on the ground. “All you do is lie. You trapped us here. How are we supposed to trust you?”

He shrugged. “There’s no rule against being a delusional child!” He spun around, and laughed.

“You…” She clenched the letter in her hand.

“Paige!” Max shouted, and walked towards her. “This is why I said we need to get rid of the letters. You should have brought it to me in the first place.” Max reached for her envelope, but Paige quickly stepped back.

“You should listen to Monokuma.” Jake’s voice was calm but sharp. He knew that he didn’t need to stand up to express his point. “I’ve seen a letter myself, and Jolly confirmed that it was the truth.” Jake smirked. “What makes you think that yours is a lie?”

Max slowly reached again. “Paige…”

She smacked Max’s hand. “Shut up! I’m getting to the bottom of this!” Paige stepped back towards Monokuma, her eyes on Jake.

“Or maybe you just don’t believe what it says.” 

I had a feeling what the letter said. Lena was motionless; she had been since Paige entered the room. It was like she knew what it said, too. But she was like that before Paige even came in… I turned to her. “You read it, didn’t you?”

Lena turned her head to me with fear in her eyes. Even Jake’s attention was caught.

“I… I…” Lena stuttered, her arms starting to shake against the table.

Jake shook his head, also realizing what the letter entailed. “This is going to be interesting.”

Paige shouted again. “I  _ don’t _ believe what it says! It’s not the truth!”

At this point, Jake looked annoyed. “If it’s not true, then why don’t you share it with the class?” He pointed to Max. “Confirm for yourself that it’s not real.”

Her eyes widened, and her head turned from Max back to Jake. “How do you…” She trailed off, and looked at the floor.

“What’s going on?” Max pointed at Jake. “What did  _ you  _ do?”

Jake shook his head, “ _ I _ didn’t do anything.”

“Bull--” 

“Quiet.” Paige, opened up the envelope and looked down at it. She looked at it as though it had paragraphs of writing, and took her time with every word. Finally, she turned it to Max. “You have no friends.”

Max’s mouth twitched, and she didn’t move. The whole room stared at her, but she didn’t move a muscle. Even Monokuma was frozen at the entrance.

“Max, please.” Paige put down the letter and approached her. “Tell me it’s wrong. We’re friends!”

Silence overtook the room. Max still wouldn’t move.

“Max?” Paige’s voice had lost all calmness. It had turned into a whimper.

Max’s eyes lowered to the ground, and she shook her head.

The room got colder, as it was clear what was coming. Nobody wanted it to happen like this, but that was the motive. Monokuma wanted things to happen like this. He wanted to rip us out of the peace we had.

Paige walked around Max and looked to Elizabeth. I hadn’t noticed, but Elizabeth had her head looking straight down. She was trying to avoid this.

“E-Elizabeth…” Paige’s words came out broken. She had to swallow just to get that one out.

Again, Elizabeth didn’t respond. She kept her head faced down. I guess she hoped that Paige would just go away.

“W-What’s wrong? We’ve been friends for y-years…” Paige walked towards the table, the envelope clutched in her hand. “Remember staying up every night before a math test? I always made sure you never failed…” Paige put her hands on the table, and leaned forward. “Elizabeth?”

But she wouldn’t look up. It was heartbreaking to watch. The pain in Paige’s voice was awful. I could feel every emotion flowing through her body.

Paige reached across the table. “Elizabeth, answer me. Please!” She shouted, her tears falling onto the table. Right as her hand was about to touch Elizabeth’s arm, she pushed her chair back and shot up.

“Fine, Paige! Fine!” Elizabeth gritted her teeth, with anger in her eyes. “You’re not my friend! Happy? You were  _ never _ my friend!” Elizabeth backed away from the table, making distance between her and Paige. “You’re just a clingy little rat with no social skills! The only thing you knew how to do was orbit us throughout school.” She sneered at Paige. “Why don’t you just leave us the  _ fuck  _ alone?”

While the words sunk in, Paige dropped onto the table. Once again the entire room sat in silence, watching the scene as it progressed. Monokuma’s motive had proved to be real once again.

The anger slowly dissipated from Elizabeth’s face as she stared at Paige lumped on top of the table. Her entire expression slowly shifted as she realized what she had just said. “Paige…” 

At the sound of her name, she flung herself off the table to her feet. Paige sprinted for the exit, barging right through Max on her way out. Tears fell to the floor as she went, leaving a small trail along the ground.

“Paige!” Lena shouted, bouncing from her chair. She sprinted after Paige, as the rest of the room digested what had happened.

There was a powerful silence, as I’m sure nobody could believe what was just said. Even if they weren’t friends, Elizabeth was disgusting. I was angry. I felt for Paige. How could someone treat another person like that? I clenched my fist, wondering if this all could have been avoided. I wish she just listened to Lena and I. People just get tunnel vision when they think someone is their friend.

I looked over to Jake, who seemed generally unphased by the whole incident.

“Well,” Monokuma spoke again, gaining the attention of the room. “Truth hurts!” His boisterous laugh filled the room, and he walked outside.

I felt the fire inside me. None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for this game. Monokuma used us like toys; he set up these terrible situations, and for what? It all just seemed like entertainment to him.

Max looked around the room, and took a deep breath. “Y-You see! This is exactly what I’m talking about.” She tried to sound authoritative, but her voice faltered. “These letters will only lead to more pain!”

Jake stood up, and pulled at my arm to signal that I should get up as well. “Oh, fuck off Max.” We walked towards the exit, taking this chance to leave. He walked right by her, and leaned in. “Read the room, idiot.”

We walked forward, moving towards Lena’s lab. I didn’t ask questions, as I was still reeling from what has just happened. I hoped Paige was okay.

The plane looked great as usual. Compared to the dining hall, it really seemed like a nice place to relax and hang out. It sure looked a lot cleaner than the dining hall.

“We’re looking for letters, Kai.” Jake turned to me. “Everyone was looking yesterday, and only a few have been found. This means that people just weren’t looking hard enough.” He smirked. “That’s where  _ we  _ come in!”

I stared at the floor. “I don’t know if I even want to find them anymore.”

Jake nodded. “I understand, that was brutal to watch.” He put his hand on my shoulder. “We just have to hope that this was what she needed. It was bad, but it’s better that she found out, as opposed to her staying their grunt.”

I guess Jake was right. It was the worst possible way, but she was able to find out the truth. The question was whether the truth is the right answer. I didn’t want to think too hard on itl, so I just nodded.

He turned to the rest of the plane. “So, uh… I don’t know. Look for anything suspicious?”

I nodded and we searched the lab. Jake immediately took off to the back, but I was more concerned with the seats. If I hid a letter, I would definitely put it under the seats. I crawled around on the floor, trying to see if anything was taped under it.

That floor was probably the only one I didn’t mind crawling around on. The carpet was very clean, and it was actually pretty soft. At the right angle, I felt like I could lay there for hours.

After a few minutes of crawling, Jake came back up front.

“Kai?”

I stuck my arm out from under the chair and waved at Jake. “Down here.”

He laughed and took the seat across from me. “Find anything?”

I went to shake my head, but accidentally hit against the bottom of the chair. “Ow.” That signaled the end of me crawling on the floor, and I pulled myself out from under the chairs. “No. Maybe there isn’t one in here?”

Jake shrugged, and the door to the lab opened. Roselia waltzed in, frowning upon seeing us. She stuck her nose up at us, and walked right by without saying anything. Following her with a big smile was Austin, who gave us both a wave as he walked by.

“Hello, Roselia.” Jake turned around in his seat to face her.

She stopped and finally acknowledged him. “Oh, I didn’t see you there!” She paused, and took a quick glance at me. “Why are you two here?”

“Searching for letters.” Jake tilted his head. “Why is Austin here?”

Roselia smiled and gestured to Austin. “Ah, he’s my assistant.”

I looked to Austin, as that didn’t sound right. But he nodded excitedly. 

Roselia nodded, and turned around. “Well, you two have fun back there. I’m going to enjoy the day from my part of the plane.”

Jake bounced out of his seat. He signaled for me to get up, and followed her into the back section of the lab. “Ah, that’s too bad!” He slipped into the corner next to Austin. “We actually just finished that part of the plane, and I am pretty thirsty.” Jake leaned down and took a soda out of the fridge.

I followed Jake, but tried to make myself look as invisible as possible. Roselia was mean, and I didn’t feel like having her yell at me.

Roselia sneered at him. “Ah, well. Make it quick.” She stared at Jake while he cracked open the can. He then proceeded to make loud slurping noises with every sip that he took.

“Now that I think about it, I am quite thirsty as well.” She waved her hand at Austin. “Would you please retrieve me some water, and maybe a small snack?”

Austin nodded and grabbed the requested items from the fridge. He quickly handed them to Roselai, who didn’t even pretend that she wanted them.

“Mmm, Austin?” Jake gave him a warm smile. “Could you get Kai a drink? He looks a bit parched.”

Austin nodded again, and grabbed me a water. I didn’t really want one, but Austin had gone out of his way to get it. I took a large sip, and held the bottle next to me.

“Hey!” Roselia growled. “That’s my servant!”

Jake covered his mouth. “Servant? Tsk tsk. That’s terrible, Roselia!” 

Her lip twitched as he spoke.

“Austin is actually my  _ friend _ , so I don’t think he minds getting us stuff.” He gave Austin a light tap with his elbow. “Right, buddy?

Without a second thought, Austin nodded. “I don’t mind!”

“That’s great!” Jake kept his eyes on Roselia. “Now that I think about it, could I get a snack to go with this soda?”

Roselia’s face was slowly turning a darker and darker shade of red with every sentence. She seemed to be out of remarks, but that wasn’t stopping her from boiling over.

Austin reached into the fridge and pulled out a bag. When he lifted it up, he stopped, and stared at it. There must have been something wrong with it, as he started to lightly shake it.

This drew both Jake and Roselia’s attention onto Austin.

“Something wrong?” Jake asked, tilting his head to get a better look.

Austin shook it again. “It’s a bit light…”

“Light?” Roselia’s anger switched to confusion. “I don’t think it’s supposed to be heavy…”

“Can I see?” Jake reached for the bag, and Austin gave it to him. His eyes widened as he touched the bag; Jake excitedly ripped it open, and slowly pulled out an envelope.

“What the…” Roselia looked disgusted, while Jake looked beyond excited.

I leaned around Jake's shoulder, trying to see who’s initials were on the letter. But when he flipped it over, the initials were “AL.” I was extremely confused, and tried to think who else in the school had those initials. When Max burned Austin’s letter, I was sure that he was the only one.

Jake spun around to me. “That settles it!” He did a light hop while holding the letter.

“Settles what?”

He backed up against the wall, and held the letter out for the others to see. “Monokuma wouldn’t let his motive go to waste. This morning he didn’t seem phased at all that Max was burning them.” Jake handed the letter to Austin. “That’s because there were either already duplicates, or he replaced the ones that were destroyed.”

I was right! There was no one else because it was Austin’s letter. Even after that big display this morning, Max’s effort was in vain. Monokuma wasn’t going to let us off that easy.

“Wow!” Austin stared down at the closed letter. There was a bit of wonder in his eyes. I was happy he would actually get to read it.

Jake tapped on it with his finger. “Go ahead. Give it a read.”

Austin ripped the envelop apart, rapidly making his way to the center. We all watched, wondering what secrets the letter would have. He unfolded the envelope, and laid his eyes upon the paper. His smile quickly died, and his eyes started to twitch. The color that had just been in his face lifted. I could see his hands shaking, while the paper softly crinkled in his hand.

“What does it say?” Jake leaned to take a look at the letter, but Austin jolted backwards. His eyes darted around the room. He looked like a cornered animal. 

“Austin?” Jake asked, as he slowly took a step forward.

“I-I have to go.” He clutched the letter tightly in his hand, and headed straight for the door. 

“Austin?” Jake asked again. He slowly tried to reach for his arm, but Austin sprinted away. He slammed the door, and left the three of us alone in the lab.

“You made me lose my servant.” Roselia growled in a low tone of voice.

Jake threw his hands up and walked to the door. “What do you need a servant for anyway?” He shouted back without looking.

I jogged behind, and quickly followed Jake outside. He was looking around, but it seemed like Austin was already gone. Jake let out a sigh, and walked back into the dining hall.

“B-Back here?” We had only left a short while ago.

“Yeah.” Jake grumbled, and stomped forward. “We never actually checked in the kitchen.”

I followed him, half hoping we wouldn’t find anything. These letters were destructive. Even the people who thought there was nothing to hide were freaking out. The entire situation was dangerous, and I had a feeling Monokuma would get what he wanted if they kept turning up.

“W-What if we stopped looking?”

Jake paused, and turned to me. “What?”

“I-I…” He was already not in a good mood. I knew he wouldn’t listen. But if it helped stop the murders, I had to try. “You see how these letters are affecting people…” I hoped that he would understand what I was saying, but he just stared at me. “Everyone who sees their letter ends up in tears…”

He rolled his eyes. “What about Jolly?”

That wasn’t a fair response. He knew what I meant. “T-There will always be exceptions…”

“Exactly.” He looked around. “For a second, forget about everyone else. Think about how both of our letters are yet to be found.”

Was that true? “Just because we didn’t find it, doesn’t mean that someone else didn’t.”

Jake shook his head. “I know for a fact that nobody else has our letters.” He turned back towards the dining hall. “That’s why  _ I’m  _ searching. If I find someone elses letter, and they want to see it, how is it my fault?” He stormed off into the dining hall.

But I had his letter. Why was he so sure that nobody else had his letter? Did he know where it was? That couldn’t have been it; I had it. I walked mindlessly into the dining hall, trying to piece together what he meant.

I looked up, to see Jolly and Zach talking to Jake. I dropped my train of thought and rushed over.

“Hey.” Zach gave me a peace sign and a nod.

Jolly leaned past Jake and gave me her own nod. “Hello.”

“They found a letter.” Jake said while looking at our table.

My eyes followed his, and landed on Blake. He sat alone, with a letter in his hands and his head on the table.

“H-His?” I asked, knowing the answer.

Jolly nodded. “Zach found it in the kitchen.”

“How?” Jake’s brain was pulled into the conversation. 

Zach shrugged. “I was making a bomb sandwich, because I hadn’t eaten all day. And then I was told that there was something amazing in the top shelf above the refrigerator.” He made a reaching gesture. “When I checked, boom, chipotle mayo! There was also his letter on top of the fridge.”

Jake raised his eyebrow. “Who told you?”

He winked at Jake. “Oh you know.”

Jake looked to the rest of us. “No. No I don’t.”

Zach looked sadly at the ground. “The missus of course.”

“He means Lady Luck.” Jolly gave Zach a stare. “His  _ girlfriend _ .”

“Why’d you have to say it like that?”

Jolly smirked. “Say it like what?”

Zach and her started to playfully bicker, while Jake walked towards the corner table. I instinctively followed, wondering what Jake could possibly want. He took a seat across Blake, and I followed suit.

“Hey, bud.” His tone had changed, and he lowered his voice.

Blake slowly raised his head with a wet face. He sniffed. “Hi.”

“Are you okay?”

Blake nodded.

Jake pointed to me. “We heard that you got your letter, and just wanted to check up on you.”

“Thanks guys.” He folded up the letter, and placed it gently on the table next to him. “I’ll be fine.”

Jake nodded. “Is it bad?”

Blake toyed with that idea for a few seconds. I could see the thoughts forming and dissipating in his mind. His eyes tracked over to the letter, and finally back to Jake. “Not really… It’s just something I wasn’t ready to accept.”

“I’m sorry.” Jake’s voice was incredibly somber and soothing. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Blake shook his head. “I just… My family and I were just on different paths, you know?”

“Sure, sometimes that happens.”

“Right?” Blake smiled for a second. “Family is supposed to be this unbreakable bond, and the idea that they may never talk to me again is hard to believe.”

“That’s what your letter says?” Jake’s eyes drifted to the piece of paper on the table.

Blake had a half hearted laugh. “It’s a bit more direct…”

We were all silent. I was trying to digest the subject matter. Another letter throwing something awful in someone’s face. It was all just a painful mess.

Blake continued, his eyes looking past us. “Do you think that family is more of a loose term? That family isn’t blood, but what you make of it?”

Jake shrugged. He had gotten really quiet. Maybe he didn’t know the answer.

“I-I think so.” Blake turned to me, hoping for my answer. “I-I don’t really remember my family… A-And I’m sure they’re wonderful people!” I looked down at the table, not excited that I was the center of attention. “I just don’t know if I’ll ever get those memories back. Would that mean I’ll never have a family?” I shook my head, and said this just as much for myself as for Blake. “If I have to stay here, I’ll make my own family here. Only you can decide who your family is.”

Blake sniffled, and covered his eyes. Under his hand I could clearly see his smile. “Thank you, Kai. That’s sorta what I needed right now…”

Jake stood up. “Well, we’re going to keep exploring. Are you alright here?”

Blake wiped his eyes and nodded. “Yeah, I think I’m alright now.”

“Great, we’ll see you later.”

He tapped on my shoulder, and I stood up. The idea that I could make a new family was beyond exciting. At that point, I wasn't even sure if I wanted my memories back. I had been in the academy for a few days and didn’t even have a clue. I guess my letter could have had something, but it wasn’t going to be anything positive. I knew I had to look forward, so that I wouldn’t miss the present.

We left the dining hall, and headed for the stairs. Jake was still content on searching for letters, but now I had a lighter feeling. Maybe I could face anything that way.

Jake paused at the top of the stairs, and looked around. His eyes finally set on the left path, and moved around the corner. He stopped for a second to admire the caution tape.

“This is fun.” He looked at me, and I nodded, unsure what to say. I was happy that the caution tape was still up; that probably meant that no one else had gone inside.

Jake pushed the tape down, making sure not to rip it, and opened the door. I quietly followed him in, immediately spotting Violet in the corner, She looked away from me, and stood up out of her seat.

“Hello!” Jake said excitedly.

Violet looked down, and responded with an unenthusiastic, “hello.”

Without a second thought, Jake began to rummage through the lab. Out of all the places we had visited, Violet’s lab was the most likely to not be explored. If there was a letter here, it had probably not been found.

Naturally, Violet wasn’t excited by Jake’s intrusion. She stepped away from her seat, and began to walk around the room while watching him. I, on the other hand, was watching her. After this morning, I didn’t expect her to still be sitting inside.

She noticed me looking, and began to drift over to me. “Habits are difficult to break…”

I nodded. It wasn’t hard to realize why she was still there.

“I’m going to stop after today though.” Her expression was covered by her mask, making her hard to read. “It will be nice to sleep in a bed.”

“Why don’t you go and check out your room?” Jake spoke without turning around. “We’ve got it here, so you don’t have to worry.” He grumbled. “We might be here for awhile.”

“Well…” Violet took a look around the lab, and then looked over to me. I couldn’t tell, but I think she wanted some sort of reassurance.

“Get some rest. We’ll make sure the tape looks good when we leave.” I motioned to the door.

She looked at the ground, and then nodded. “Thank you.” Violet opened the door, and turned back around. “I’ll see you two tomorrow. Thank you, again.”

“No problem, Violet.” I gave her a smile that I hoped would reassure her. I had a feeling that nothing I could do would have made her feel better.

“Have a good sleep!” Jake called, waving to her without looking.

And with that, she was gone. Immediately it felt weird that she wasn’t there. Violet was like a staple of the lab. But it was more important that she was healthy. I think she made the right decision. 

I took a seat, and watched Jake search. I’m not sure you could have even called it searching. Instead of picking up things and looking around, he would just stare in a direction for a few minutes. Sometimes, he would pick up something. It was like he was trying to win a game of chess against the room. 

We sat there for what felt like hours. In reality, it was probably a few hours. There were so many items in the room, and Jake seemed to be content with searching every single one of them. Not having a clock only made the passage of time worse.

He groaned. “There has to be one here!” Jake slammed his fist on the table in front of him.

I looked around the room, trying to decide why he felt that way. “What if Monokuma didn’t put a letter in here?”

Jake turned to me and stared. It was obvious he wanted me to continue.

“With Violet protecting it, maybe he didn’t want to put something here.” Jake continued to stare. “I-In the end, the goal is to find them r-right?”

A wide smile pulled across his face. “Or, maybe he hid the best secrets in here!” Jake took a step back, causing the floorboard under him to squeak. He frowned, and looked down at his foot. He moved his heel, causing the floor to squeak over and over. “What kind of person intentionally puts in a squeaky floorboard…”

I tilted my head. “Intentionally?”

He continued to tap on the wood. “Everything in this school seems to be perfectly by design. There’s no way the floor broke in less than a week.” His eyes widened, and his smile returned. Jake dropped on his hands and knees and pulled at the floorboard. To my surprise, it came up with ease.

Seconds later, Jake revealed an envelope with the letters “WF” on the front. My first thought was why it was hidden so well. It wasn’t that the other letters weren’t hidden, it was that this letter was just insanity. But the goal of the game was to find them. 

Jake quickly flashed the letter at me, with a smug look on his face. “Knew it.” He then started to open the envelope.

“Woah!” I shouted without thinking, causing Jake to stop. “What are you doing?”

He raised his eyebrow. “Opening it?”

I gave him a confused expression. “Why?”

He looked around. “Because I want to know what it says?”

“B-But that’s not yours.”

Jake shrugged. “So? I’m the one that found it.” He looked down at the letter and back to me. “We can give it to Wattson after if you want.”

I shook my head. “It’s not really our place to read someone else’s secrets.”

He tapped the envelope against his head. “But what if it’s something dangerous and something bad happens because we didn’t look?”

I didn’t have a good answer for that one. I hadn’t thought too much about what other people had in their letters. The only metric I had was what was probably inside my letter. I would have never wanted something like that to get out. “Jake, I-I just don’t think we should…”

He pretended as though he didn’t hear me, and started opening the letter. He unfurled the paper inside, and then read it. His gleeful expression changed to confusion as his eyes moved over the paper. Jake looked up, and squinted.

“W-What?”

He wordlessly passed the envelope to me, his mind occupied by what he had just read.

I stared down at the paper, fearful of what I might read.

  
  


_ You are not the Ultimate Race-car Driver. _

  
  


My hands wrinkled the paper, as my expression slowly morphed into the one Jake had.  _ Not the Ultimate Race-car Driver? How could that be?  _ I looked up to Jake, who was still lost in thought. “H-How?” That’s all I was able to get out.

Jake shook his head. “I don’t know. It honestly doesn’t seem possible.” He started to pace around the room. After a few minutes of this, he stopped. Jake turned around to me with a smirk. “But we’re going to find out.”

I shook my head in disbelief. “How?”

He walked forward and reached for the letter. “We expose him in front of everyone!”

Instinctively, I pulled back, and held the letter close to myself. “Wh--” I didn’t even know what to say. How could we expose him?

“Kai?” Jake gave me a stern expression. ‘Exposing him in front of everyone will force him to tell us the truth. If he doesn’t, then nobody will trust him.”

I knew I couldn’t do it. I had to come up with something to stop Jake. “B-But, w-what if…” I couldn’t think of anything, and Jake cut me off.

“But what?” He was starting to raise his voice. “Wattson is a liar. Who knows why he’s hiding his talent? He could be dangerous.”

I had to do something. “What if it’s fake?!”

Jake paused, and considered it. “Like what if someone besides Monokuma put that here?”

I shrugged, trying to keep my composure. “Sure! O-Or even what if the letters really are lying?”

Jake gave me a look of pure disappointment. “We know that’s not the case.”

“B-But what if some of them are? We don’t know!”

Jake took another step forward, and slowly outstretched his hand. “We have to do this, Kai.”

I turned my body to the left, keeping the letter close. “No we don’t. T-This is exactly what Monokuma wants. He wants us to fight each other.”

“That was going to happen either way.”

“I-It doesn’t have to.”

Jake stomped his foot and sighed. “God dammit, Kai! How many times do I need to tell you this? They aren’t all going to make it. We need to use opportunities like these to make sure that  _ we  _ survive!”

I stepped closer to the door. “You’re wrong. Nobody has to die.”

He gave me a pained look. “Kai…”

I turned my back to him, grabbing the handle. “I can’t give up… If I acknowledge that people are going to die, then I’m legitimizing the killing game.” It was hard to say, but it was the truth. I refused to believe that anyone could die. If I could, I had to save everyone.

“Take your hand off the handle.” Jake’s voice was stern. He was commanding me. “And give me the letter.” 

I turned the handle to the point that I could open the door. I had to go with my gut. I had to try.

“Kai?”

In one motion, I threw the door open behind me. I didn’t see it, but I knew that Jake lunged for me the second I did. In a manner more graceful than I thought was possible for me, I pulled the tape and jumped through. I felt a piece of it snag on my foot, but I was able to get out without issue.

After I was through, I ran for the stairs. I didn’t even know if he was chasing me, I just knew I had to run. And I didn’t stop until I closed the door to my room. I immediately collapsed to the floor, and softly placed the letter on the ground next to me.

I had to try. I knew that I couldn’t give up; I couldn’t let the killing game take over. As I lay on the floor, I thought of my dream. The corpses and the blood flashed through my head.  _ What would be the point of surviving if everyone else died? _

After awhile, I got up. I still couldn’t believe that Jake wanted to expose Wattson. I guess I should have known; he did make it clear that no one else was going to make it. He had already given up on helping everyone.

I dropped Wattson’s letter next to Jake’s, and sat on my bed. Was Jake actually right? Was I just being a naive idiot? I wasn’t sure. No matter what the right choice was, I just couldn’t do it. Jake wanted to help me make it through; he wanted me to survive with him. Was he still going to feel that way after today?

Everything that happened clouded my judgement. I wanted to be upset at Jake, but was it really his fault? Maybe he understood the game better than anyone else. I wanted any explanation to suggest that I was right. I curled up into my blanket, trying to justify myself. But my brain kept going back to the same thought.

_ It didn’t matter. I don’t need justification.  _

I was right. Who cares about what anyone else thought? I couldn’t do it. No matter what happened, I couldn’t play into Mononkuma’s game. The second that I accepted someone else's death, I would have lost.

My eyes faced towards the letter sitting on the nightstand, wondering what Jake would do. I just didn't know. Jake had seen the contents of the letter, and he didn’t exactly need it to expose Wattson. I could argue against him, but he would probably win that. I could never out argue Jake. My head started to hurt, as I was trying my hardest to fight against Jake. He was my best friend, and I was sitting alone in my room thinking of ways to stop him. It was weird; it felt wrong.

I again started to question my ideals. This gave me an ever more painful headache. I just wanted everything to stop. I wanted the pain to go away. This game and these letters are driving people insane. People are changing over them, and Monokuma has been silent since he announced them. He seemed to enjoy the idea of just leaving us to read them.

My thoughts continued to swirl around in my head as I looked at the letter. I knew that I couldn’t let anyone know Wattson’s secret. I had seen how everyone else reacted when they found out their secrets; I could only imagine how everyone else would react to his. Everyone was already on edge. The idea that someone could be faking their talent would cause issues, and possible even a murder. I couldn’t let that happen.

I took a deep breath and thought about how to stop Jake. After minutes of staring at Wattson’s letter, I realized that the answer was right in front of me. Slowly, I moved Wattson’s letter to the side, and picked up Jake’s.

Again, it felt heavy in my hands. It was wrong, but Jake might not reveal Wattson’s secrets if his own were on the line. But was I willing to reveal Jake’s secrets? I wasn’t even willing to reveal Wattson’s, let alone my best friend's secrets.

My hands began to sweat as I stared down at his letter. If it was something bad, there was no way I could expose Jake. I would be doing the exact thing I was trying to stop. I closed my eyes tight and smacked my fist against the bed. It wasn’t fair. I didn’t know what to do. Usually, I would just have asked Jake, but I can’t do that now…

I recalled the options in my head. If Jake’s secret was bad, I couldn’t reveal it. I looked down at his envelope. In order to be sure, I had to know his secret. Thoughts clouded my head again, as I didn’t want to break Jake’s trust. He was breaking Wattson’s trust, but I didn’t want to have to be the one to read Jake’s letter.

I released a sigh, and slowly opened Jake’s letter. Part of me hoped that I would get too scared half way through and stop, but I never did. I completely unsealed the envelope, and pulled out the paper.

My eyes were closed tight, but I opened the piece of paper/ In front of me was a secret about Jake. If I read it, there was no going back. Against all better judgement, I opened my eyes.

  
  


_ You intend to leave this school, and you intend to do it alone. _

  
  


I felt as though a piece of me disconnected as my eyes rolled across the paper. At first I didn’t understand what it meant. But as I reread the line over and over again, I came to the realization. 

Jake didn’t want to survive with me. The only way to leave this building alone is to kill another person. Jake wanted to kill.

I read the paper again, and then a second time. A third; a fourth. I reread the paper over and over again trying to find some hidden meaning. I had to be missing something. There had to be some answer that I just couldn’t see. 

But as I kept reading, the answer just became clearer and clearer. Jake wanted to kill? Jake was going to kill? Was there a difference? My brain became flooded again, even worse than it was before. The headache came back with such intensity that it was hard to believe I ever had one before.

I didn’t know. I didn’t understand. I kept looking around the room, hoping that Monokuma would come in to tell me it was a joke, or even worse that it was real. It just didn’t make sense; nothing made sense.

Jake couldn’t have been lying to me. He couldn’t have been lying to everyone else. My brain immediately shot to Paige. The look on her face this morning as she shouted to Elizabeth. My body started to shake, as all the pieces started to slowly fall into place. Paige, the letters,  _ Jazz _ …

She told me that Jake was manipulating me. She told me that he was lying. I looked Paige in the eyes and told her that she was being manipulated by the people close to her, and at the same time I pushed Jazz away without a second thought?

I didn’t need Monkuma to confirm this for me. I had confirmed it myself. In fact it shouldn’t have taken the letter to know. He had been spelling it out for me the whole game. Jake was a manipulator that wanted to kill someone.

But why would he protect me? Why would he stick around me if he just wanted to kill someone. It didn’t make sense. As much as some parts would make sense, it wouldn’t somewhere else.

I closed my eyes and pressed my head against my pillow. I needed the day to be over. I needed to leave the academy. Everything was either a lie or trying to kill you. Sometimes both… I was so tired of everything. So scared of everything that was happening. I wasn’t the right person to deal with any of this…

My hands pulled the pillow, and wrapped it around my head.  _ Go to sleep. Go to sleep. Please. Let me just go to sleep.  _ But sleep didn’t come. There were too many thoughts going on. The warning signs, the pain, what to do next. That was the biggest question. What was I supposed to do next? I couldn’t expose him, could I? That would once again go against everything that I had tried to stop today. I was just trying to stop a murder…

The realization dawned on me that I was stuck. I couldn’t expose Jake because that would put him in trouble, but if I didn’t… Would he actually have killed someone? I knew by then that the letter wouldn’t lie. As horrible as it was, Monokuma put nothing but the truth on those letters. He wanted this to happen. He wanted people to attack Wattson; he wanted everyone else to freak out. And he wanted someone to see Jake’s letter. Was it a warning?

Did that even matter? I couldn’t do anything. I didn’t have the willpower to do anything. I just wanted to go to sleep. I couldn’t think about Jake now. I just needed to sleep.

  
  


~~~

  
  


I opened my eyes to see an open field; the sound of fire crackled on behind me. I was asleep. I Should have realized that dreaming wouldn’t have been much better than reality. The smell of blood drifted into my nostrils, and I looked upon the field of bodies. Again, my classmates lay dead in front of me.

It was the same as before; nothing was different. At this point I didn’t know what the dream wanted from me. I was already trying as hard as possible to help everyone, but it was too much. How could I have fought against everything going on. I was just Kai.

“Honestly.” A voice came from behind me. One I would recognize no matter what. “I couldn’t have done this without your help.” I felt his hand grasp my shoulder. His touch sent a cold shock throughout my body. “But we both know that you have to go too.” The cold hand threw me downward, and my face hit the dirt.

“Goodbye, Kai.”

I shot awake, as a chill shot through my body. The seconds passed, and my room slowly became more and more real. I clutched my blankets tightly; the final events of my dream rang over and over in my head.

My eyes pulled slowly to the right, and finally landed on Jake’s letter. I needed to do something. I couldn’t just let him do whatever he wanted. I needed someone else.

I shakily slid out of bed, and grabbed the letter. One person has seen through him. I thought that maybe that person could help me. I left my room quietly, trying not to wake anyone up. I could tell from my window that it was still nighttime, although I was too afraid to see where the moon was.

I scanned the dorms, trying to find where Jazz’s room was. To my knowledge, they weren’t in any specific order. It was impossible to see any rooms below me, but I really didn’t want to start walking around. I turned back towards my room, and then I saw it. Jazz’s room was next to mine… I had no idea, but I guess I never really checked.

There was an incredible weight on my chest. That paired with the weight of the letter made every movement feel impossible. Am I really going to do this? Just about every part of me couldn’t believe that I got even that far. Against everything else in my body, I knocked on her door. It wasn’t a loud knock, but I was too worried about waking anyone else up.

I waited at the door, not sure if she even heard me. Then my mind started to wander. Would I open the door if someone knocked this late? Would I even wake up? I started to think about what I would do. Truthfully, I would have been too scared to open the door.

But after a minute and a half, the door opened slightly.

“What?” Jazz growled. She stuck her eye through the door and saw me. Her expression softened a bit, and she opened the door a bit wider. “Are—” She stopped, and then tilted her head with a confused look. “Do you want to come in?”

I nodded sheepishly. She opened the door, and led me into her room. Jazz walked behind me, and kept her eyes on me as I walked.

Her room was pretty much the same as mine. Based on what Jake had said, it looked like all of the rooms were just about the same. Thinking about Jake brought my mind onto the topic at hand. I felt the letter in my hand, and squeezed it tight.

“What’s wrong?”

I looked up off the letter, and made eye contact with Jazz. She still held the same concerned expression from before. The whole situation must have been weird. The only time she talked to me, I ended up telling her off…

She shook her head. “What?”

I swallowed, and took a deep breath. “I-It’s… It’s about Jake…”

Jazz’s expression immediately shifted into a sneer. She wasn’t the type of person who could hide her emotions, and it didn’t seem like she even wanted to. I could see her entire body tense up. But she didn’t say anything, and let me continue.

I feverishly lifted the letter, it’s weighting increasing with every second I spent in this room. If I gave her the letter, it would be over. I could have exposed Jake, and possibly caused even more harm. That was Monokuma’s game; I would be doing everything that he wanted by handing off Jake’s letter. There was no right answer. I couldn’t live with myself if people died because I didn’t do anything. I pushed the letter forward, and Jazz accepted it delicately.

She unfurled the letter, and read it slowly. Her eyes were fiery and intense. I could tell that she was still upset just by his mention. Jazz must have really hated him. As her eyes moved across the page, her expression changed from anger to shock. Jazz’s mouth slowly opened as I assumed she finished reading, and she quickly looked up at me.

“This is his?!?”

I nodded slowly, and pointed to the envelope in her hand. She turned it over and read the “JF” on the front of it. She read the paper again, probably doing the same exact routine that I had done.

“Why did you bring this to me?”

That was a great question. Could I really tell her that I was a coward? Would that even be an acceptable answer? At that point I didn’t have much to lose.

“I-I don’t want to play Monokuma’s game…” She watched me, and listened. “Monokuma wanted me to find this letter; he wants me to expose Jake…” The words piled up in my throat, making it hard to breathe. Talking then was one of the hardest things I had ever had to do. “I don’t want to expose him.”

The look of sheer disbelief on Jazz’s face caused me to go red. “Are you out of your mind?!” She threw her hands in the air. “This asshole is gonna kill everyone!” Jazz shot up out of her seat and started to pace around. “I knew it! You know that, right? I knew it from the start!”

I nodded.

“We need to tell everybody. We need to lock him up!”

Her response was what I needed to go through with this. I knew that Jake was a danger to everyone, but I just needed someone else to say it. It was what I had to do to save everyone.

She stopped pacing and looked back to me. “You’re going to expose him, right?”

For the first time, I gave a concrete answer and nodded. “I-I don’t know if I can do it alone though…” That was the second issue I had. What if Jake argued against it? There was no way I would have been able to do it alone.

Jazz clapped her hands together. “No problem! We’re gonna take down that asshole no problem!”

I looked up at her surprised. She was on board? I couldn’t believe that it didn’t take any convincing. “You’re okay with helping?”

Jazz smirked. “Hell yeah! Fuck that little shithead!” Her smirk transformed into a massive smile. She wasn’t just okay, she was excited. “He keeps walking around all smug everyday. Acting like he’s the coolest person around. I can’t wait to knock him down!”

I nodded. Although I wasn’t excited about this like Jazz was. I knew it was going to be horrific to expose Jake. He was my best friend, and now I was going to accuse him of being a killer. I guess Jazz really was the person I needed for this.

As we both calmed down, my brain started to wonder what we do next. It was sometime in the morning, and I doubted that I would be able to go back to sleep. I stood there in front of Jazz, rerunning the day for myself.

Wake up. Go to the cafeteria. Confront Jake. My brain focused on the events, realizing something was off. Go to the cafeteria. I realized what was wrong, and a cold shock went down my spine. Every day I went to the cafeteria with Jake. Every day he waited for me by the doors of the dorm. The words bounced around my head. He waited.

Jazz noticed the look on my face, and tilted her head. “What’s wrong?”

I knew I couldn’t look him in the eye. I probably wouldn’t be able to even be in the same room as him. I started to wonder what would happen if he said something. What if he suspected what I was going to do? What if he tried to stop me on the way there?

“Kai?” Jazz waved her hands in front of me, and managed to pull my attention. “What’s wrong?”

I looked around the room and took a deep breath. The world felt like it was spinning, and my whole body felt cold. “I… I…”

She shook her head. My stutter was making her even more confused. “You have to say it, whatever it is.”

I closed my eyes and tried to push all the negative thoughts out of my head. It was the only way to find a solution. “J-Jake waits f-for me by the door everyday…”

Her eyes trailed from me to her own door. Jazz was trying to digest what I was saying.

“I-I don’t think I can see him…” It was such a cowardly thing to say, but I didn’t know what else to do. If I saw Jake, he might have been able to stop me. If he had truly been manipulating me the entire time, then any time spent between us before we got to the cafeteria was dangerous. And he still could have been upset about yesterday.

Jazz nodded. “Okay! Then we leave now.” She nodded, and briskly made her way to the door.

I spun around; my head not able to keep up. “What?”

She tilted her head. “If you can’t see Jake and Jake always waits by the door, then we’ll just leave now.” Jazz waved for me to follow her, and opened the door. “Let’s go!”

My body moved on its own, without the need for further thought. It wasn’t something I needed to think about; I just needed to do it. We walked down the stairs and she flung open the doors. I guess Jazz was excited because she has no regard for how loud she was.

But it was exciting. Not only was I going to stop Jake, but I was sneaking out at night. I guess there was nothing against the rules of doing that, but it still felt exciting.

I went to take one step outside, before I noticed the silver light shining on the ground in front of me. It caused everything in my brain to stop, and my body to go rigid. With every second I kept looking, a faint itch began to grow. It spread around by body, with an intensity that I had not seen yet.

“You’re so slow.” Jazz reached through the doorway, and pulled me through by my arm. I braced myself as the moonlight showered me. The itch only grew stronger, and got close to pain. But nothing happened.

“What are you doing?” Jazz was starting to get annoyed at this point.

I opened my eyes, and saw my normal body. I wasn’t a werewolf, and with that knowledge, the itch started to recede. It wasn’t a full moon anyway, so I was just being paranoid. “Sorry, I just…” I trailed off, not sure how to even explain my behavior.

“Whatever.” She groaned. “Are we going, or are we just going to sit around and wait for Jake?”

I nodded. “Let’s go.”

We started walking towards the school. It was an incredibly peaceful night, and the first time I had seen the school dark. I wished I had seen it sooner. Each building had some lights on them, making every one of them stick out. The lights were like markers so that one would know where to go. This made the whole campus look alive. I half expected to see other students walking around. It was that nice.

After we got to the school, I realized that I didn’t know where we were going. “Uh, Jazz? Where are we going?”

She turned to me and made a confused face. “I don’t know.” She shook her head. “You’re the one that wants to hide from Jake; you choose.”

“Me?” Jake was usually the navigator when we were exploring the school. I was more used to just following. My brain then reminded me that Jake had been controlling me. I frowned, wondering how many examples of this that I would see in hindsight.

“I’m waiting…” Jazz folded her arms and began tapping her feet on the ground.

I was once again brought out of my thoughts. Hmm, place to stay until morning… My mind drifted, and then thought of how comfy the chairs were in the observatory. It was the perfect place to relax. “T-The observatory?”

Jazz raised her eyebrow. “Are you asking?”

I shook my head quickly. “Observatory.”

She nodded, and headed down the hallway.

The school was more eerie at night. Thinking about that reminded me that the school was also eerie during the day, but it was definitely worse at night. Usually, light would shine through the windows, and there would be other students around somewhere, but now it was awkwardly dark. There were lights in the school, but they were dim. On top of that, after every few lights, one of them would manage to be out. It really went with the worn-down look of the school.

Even with the scary feeling, it was a peaceful walk to the observatory. We took the elevator up, and not surprisingly it looked the same as it usually did. The ambience of the room was already based on the fact that it was dark, so nighttime didn’t really change that. The only major difference would have been the roof. If it was retracted, there would be an amazing view of the sky.

Jazz and I each took recliners, and pushed them all the way back. I knew even with this chair, that I wasn’t going to fall asleep, but Jazz on the other hand looked like she was getting ready for bed. I couldn’t blame her, as I woke her up in the middle of the night.

It dawned on me how nice she had been to be since we met. Even though she acted mean, she had really been looking out for me. On top of that she went with me to the observatory and is going to help me with Jake. The idea that she was doing all of that for someone she barely knew was incredible to me. It made me feel special, and helped calm me down just a bit.

Even though I knew it wouldn’t happen, I tried to go to sleep anyway. I wanted to be as rested as possible for tomorrow. Not like that mattered. With every second I spent thinking about confronting Jake, my heart beat faster. I needed to be ready for a fight, and I just didn’t think I had it in me. Either way I closed my eyes and tried to go to sleep.

  
  


~~~

  
  


_ Ding Dong Bing Bong _

My body didn’t even react as the chime sounded over the school. I hadn’t gotten a second of sleep. The entire night I just stared at the ceiling and thought about what was going to happen today.

_ Goooooood morning students! It is now 7am. _

There was a small pause.

_ How are the motives coming along? Find anything interesting? Anything shocking? There’s plenty of fun to go around, so make sure that you find one before it’s too late! _

“Agh.” Jazz sat up and looked around the room; she seemed really confused as to where she was. After a few seconds, her eyes landed on me. “Oh. Good morning.” She blinked a few times, and then rubbed her eyes.

“Morning.” It was weird. I didn’t even feel very tired. My mind was peacefully silent; I wasn’t very upset about this after all the thinking I did last night. Not that it did me any good. I didn’t need hours of thought. If anything, it just made me more nervous for today. I wondered how people were going to react; I wondered how Jake was going to react.

Jazz hopped out of her seat and stretched her arms. “Did you get a good night's sleep?”

I shook my head, my eyes still focused on the ceiling.

“Oh.” She stopped talking, but still kept her eyes on me.

A few minutes of silence passed. Not even thinking about Jake, I really just didn’t want to move from my seat. It was like gravity had stuck me into the recliner. I wasn’t incredibly comfortable; I just think my body didn’t want to move.

“A-Are you ready…” Jazz paused, trying to figure out the best way to say this. “For today?”

I shrugged. That was the best answer I could offer. I really didn’t know if I was. To be honestly, the answer was probably no. There was no way I would have ever been ready for something like that. And yet I was still going to do it. I had to. Lives were on the line, and I just couldn’t live with myself if I let people die.

Jazz took a seat back in her recliner. She didn’t force me to move. I think I needed the push, but I appreciated the gesture. I decided it was better to just let my body have what it wanted. Jake was still going to be there when I decided to get up.

We sat there for a while. I just continued to look at the ceiling. My thoughts didn’t return, and I was finally able to enjoy a little while of peace.

Jazz on the other hand kept looking around and tapping on the chair. It was obvious to me that she wanted to get moving, but she never forced me. After a few more minutes of sitting around, she got out of her chair and walked around the observatory.

In a lot of ways, it was better than sleeping. I was able to peacefully relax without having to worry about my nightmares. I wished every morning was like this.

I don’t know how long we had been there, but eventually we heard a popping sound.

_ [Blake] Hello friends and students! It’s me Blake! _

_ [Jolly] And I’m Jolly. _

_ [Together] And we are the Morning Coffee Podcast! _

Jazz’s attention was immediately caught by the sound, causing her to stop whatever she was doing. She made her way back to the chairs, and plopped into one. She had an angry expression on her face, and sat with her arms folded.

_ [Blake] So Jolly, it’s day five. Any thoughts? _

_ [Jolly] Hmm, not much about the length, per se. My biggest thoughts are still on these letters! _

_ [Blake] Yes. I agree. For all the listeners out there who may not know, I actually found my own letter yesterday. It’s depressing stuff. _

_ [Jolly] Absolutely. Mine was also pretty mean spirited. _

It was so weird to hear them both talking about their letters to everyone else in the school. It was supposed to be a motive, and they were both just discussing it freely. In a lot of ways, I admired them, and wished I had that confidence.

_ [Blake] My question, Jolly, do you think people should be reading these letters? _

_ [Jolly] You know, I’ve been putting a lot of thought into it. I think that in a way, it’s important for us to accept the things that are written on these letters. Mine personally discussed my involvement in my parents’ divorce. It’s a terrible thing to have to think about, but I absolutely have to take responsibility for the things I did. I won’t blame myself, but I have to acknowledge that I had a part in it. _

_ [Blake] Makes a lot of sense. There’s a lot of pain in these letters, but so far from what we’ve seen they’re the truth. _

_ [Jolly] It would seem that way. It’s also worth remembering that these are motives. Monokuma intends to use these truths to force us to kill. In my opinion any information coming from him can’t be trusted. _

_ [Blake] That is tr— _

_ [???] That’s a pretty rude way to talk about your headmaster! _

_ [Blake] L-Ladies and gentlemen, we have a special guest today… The headmaster of the Ultimate Academy, Monokuma! _

This new development shocked both Jazz and I. I don’t think anyone expected Monokuma to join in on their podcast. Along with that a canned clapping sound played after Monokuma was introduced.

_ [Blake] So, Headmaster, what brings you on the Morning Coffee Podcast? _

_ [Monokuma] Well, not only am I ecstatic that you are putting your lab to good use, I also have a special announcement! _

_ [Jolly] Interesting, and I guess this was a good place to announce them? _

_ [Monokuma] I sure think so! Besides, who doesn’t love a nice podcast in the morning? _

There was a short silence. I’m sure that neither Blake nor Jolly knew what to do from here. It became obvious that neither of them expected Monokuma to arrive either. That bear really did like to show up randomly.

_ [Blake] Well, Headmaster, you have the floor. What would you like to discuss first? _

_ [Monokuma] First, I think we should continue with the discussion from before. I know I’ve said it before, but every single letter that is out around this academy is the real deal! No lies, only truths. _

_ [Jolly] We agree with that. So far, every single letter that I’m aware of has been verified by the owner to be correct. _

_ [Monokuma] I’d also like to say that I am absolutely trustworthy! I have no reason to lie, and will do my best to tell only the truth! _

_ [Blake] Do your best? _

_ [Monokuma] Well, I don’t want to make promises that I can’t keep! My first duty is as your Headmaster. If I have to lie to do my duty, then so be it! _

_ [Jolly] Sorry, it’s just hard to trust someone who threw us into a killing game. Why should we trust you? _

_ [Monokuma] You don’t have to! I am just telling you, as your headmaster, that I will try not to deceive you. I have clearly laid out the rules, and have every intention of following them until the end of the killing game. _

_ [Jolly] I guess we just have to have faith? _

_ [Monokuma] Yep! _

I was extremely curious as to why Monokuma was saying this at all. Joly was right, we would never be able to trust him. We’re trapped in this school, and he wants us to murder each other. There is no way any of us are going to trust him.

_ [Blake] And your special announcement? I’m sure you had a really good reason to come on here. _

_ [Monokuma] Yes, I do! I have finally decided on my deadline for the motive. _

_ [Blake] Let’s hear it. _

_ [Monokuma] Tomorrow, at the nighttime announcement. _

_ Tomorrow? _ I looked to Jazz, who didn’t seem as freaked out as I did. There was just over a day left until time ran out on the motive. We now had a ticking clock, and it wasn’t a lot of time.

_ [Jolly] That’s not a lot of time. _

_ [Monokuma] I disagree! You had two full days before this, and now you are getting another. I’ve been very patient, and yet no one has given me a body! _

_ [Blake] Well, it’s possible that no one is going to murder anyone. Have you thought about that possibility? _

_ [Monokuma] Of course! And I already told you what happens if I don’t get a body by the time limit. _

_ [Jolly] If you would, can we get a reminder of what that is? _

_ [Monokuma] If I don’t get a body by the time limit, all of the secrets hidden in the envelopes will become publicly available information for every single person in this school. Everything you’ve been trying to hide will be open for anyone and everyone to read! _

I felt like Monokuma was speaking right to me at that moment. Everything was going to be out in the open. Everyone would know about my talent… On top of that everyone would know about Wattson, and everyone would know about Jake. My mind started to race again, wondering what people would do. It was even more of a reason I had to out Jake. With his secret on the line, he might try to kill someone first. Everyone was in danger. Monokuma had managed to force the motive out into the open again.

Energy filled my body, and everything that had held me down into the chair before was gone. I hopped up onto the floor, causing Jazz to jump.

“Huh?”

I tapped my pocket to make sure I still had his letter. “We have to go,  _ now _ .”

She nodded, and tapped her pockets as well. “You’re ready?”

Her question slowed me down. Was I really ready? I shoved that thought out of my head. “I-It doesn’t matter. We have a time limit, and Jake might try to make a move before then.”

Jazz nodded slowly, and we started to walk towards the elevator.

_ [Blake] That’s a quite frightening thought! _

_ [Monokuma] Well, it is a motive! I’m not doing my job if it doesn’t motivate you! _

_ [Jolly] And if someone does die. What happens? _

_ [Monokuma] As promised, all non-discovered motives will disappear from their hiding places, and will not be seen again. _

_ [Jolly] Not discovered? _

_ [Monokuma] If someone already discovered the motive, it’s theirs to keep. I said it when announcing the motive. After someone discovers one, it’s theirs to do whatever they want with. _

_ [Jolly] So if your secrets are already revealed, you’re out of luck? _

_ [Monokuma] Yup! It’s an incentive to kill someone early! _

The elevator opened up, and we raced out. Even though I was terrified, I moved forward. I was running towards the thing I was deathly afraid of. But I had to do this; I had to save everyone.

  
  


_ [Blake] I guess that makes sense. Once that cat’s out of the bag… _

_ [Monokuma] You got it! _

The sounds of the podcast slowly became lower as we approached the dining hall. I’m sure they were still talking, but the sound of my heart drowned out everything else. It beat furiously, and slowly took over all of my thoughts.

I turned the corner and moved into the dining hall. My fear had almost completely made me forget why I was there. For a few seconds, I stood in the entrance looking around the room. A few people stopped and stared at me, but my focus quickly shifted to the left, to Jake.

He was sitting in the usual seat, and stopped after everyone at the table started to stare. Jake spun around and tilted his head. He slowly rose out of his chair, an extremely confused look covering his face. Jazz caught up to me, and entered the room. Jake froze in place, his eyes sliding from me onto her. The confused expression he had before slowly dissipated, leaving nothing.

By this time, everyone else in the room was staring. I couldn’t blame them. Neither of us were talking, but you could tell we had something to say. For some reason, whether he knew or not, Jake didn’t want to start the conversation. Instead, he took a step forward.

This caused a surprising reaction from Jazz, who stepped in front of me. Jake covered his mouth with his left hand, and took a step back. His entire body seemed more relaxed.

After a few seconds, he lowered his hand. “What?”

Jazz didn’t say anything. I really don’t think she even knew what to say. Maybe she thought that Jake was going to rush me. It was an appreciated gesture.

She turned back to me, and whispered. “Are you gonna do it?”

I was reminded of why I had rushed over here. The letter that had been weighing down my pocket. As I moved to pull it out, my body started to freeze up. All the confidence that I had before was seeping out of me. Why did I have to be the person to find his letter? Why did it have to be in my lab of all places?

Even though it was a struggle, I lifted the letter out of my pocket. It felt as though its weight had only increased. It was now or never.

Jake watched me pull out the letter, but kept a neutral expression. He had to have known what was coming. But he didn’t even try to stop it; he just stared.

I held up the letter as high as I could, and showed it to the people in the cafeteria. “I-I…” My mouth reached for words, but none of them came. It was as though my entire vocabulary disappeared. I stared into the letter; its contents slowly consuming me. I wasn’t ready.

Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I was able to pull myself away from the letter. Jazz was looking into my eyes. “You got this! Remember what we talked about?” She spoke with ferocity. “Bring this  _ asshole _ down!”

A small but noticeable confidence sprung up within me. It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough. Jazz was right, I had this. I clutched the letter tight and faced the crowd of my peers.

“I f-found Jake’s letter.”

No one said anything, but I had their attention. I looked over to Jazz, who nodded.

“I-I d-don’t think y-you would believe me otherwise… So, I’m just going to r-read it.” I slid the letter out from inside the envelope, and read the line again.”

_ You intend to leave this school, and you intend to do it alone. _

I had to see it again; I had to be sure. Seeing the words again kept my fire going. Jake was dangerous. _ If I don’t do this, someone can die. _

I repeated that inside my head a few times before continuing. It needed to hear it.

“Y-Y…” I took a deep breath. “You i-intend to leave this school, a-and you intend to do it a-alone.”

At first, there was silence. People needed to process the letter just like I did.

“What the  _ fuck _ is that supposed to mean?” Elizabeth was out of her seat, and looking between Jake and I.

Morton started to laugh from the back of the dining hall, and started to slam his fist on the table.

“Well?” Elizabeth demanded.

Max shot out of her chair and ran to me. The entire time her eyes were on Jake. “Can I see that?”

I nodded, and handed her the letter. Immediately, a massive weight was lifted from me. I felt reborn. Even though it felt good, I could feel multiple eyes on me. Worst of all, I knew one pair of them was Jake’s.

Max’s eyes covered the paper; they moved back and forth, rereading the text over and over. I think she had the same reaction that I did the first time. She flipped the envelope over and read the initials. After what felt like ages, her eyes moved up to look at Jake. She was in shock.

Morton noticed this, and his laughter only grew louder.

“What the  _ fuck _ is going on?” Elizabeth was now screaming. She ran around the table to Max, and snatched the letter.

“It means this dickhead wants to kill one of us!” Jazz pointed her finger at Jake. Her voice was nasty, and clearly filled with anger.

The room’s eyes were now fixed on Jake, who still held a neutral expression. Everyone went silent, each of us expected him to say something. Maybe it was all just a misunderstanding. Maybe we just didn’t understand the letter. Part of me wished for that.

He finally moved, and faced the room. “What of it?”

Dead silence. Not a single person in the room moved, or even made a sound. I don’t think a single person alive could have expected that response. All my hopes, all my fears. It was all summed up in that one response.

“What of it?” Jazz screamed, taking a step towards Jake. “Your secret’s out. You’re done!”

Jake took a step forward, and gave her a smirk. “What are you going to do about it?”

She stopped for a second, seemingly shocked by Jake’s taunt. But then Jazz clenched her hand into a fist and took another step. “I’ll kick your ass!” She took another step and raised her fist, but Max darted forward. She grabbed Jazz’s arm and held her back.

“Fights are not happening.”

Jazz struggled, but Max was just too much for her.

“Honestly, you thought you had something, didn’t you?” Jake shook his head and walked towards the center of the room. “The worst part is that Kai left out the most interesting letter that he found…”

“What?” Max turned to Jake, still holding Jazz still. “What are you talking about?”

“Why don’t you tell them, Kai? Since you are all of a sudden into exposing people.” Jake had a serious expression, but I could tell he was enjoying this. I knew that I could never pull exposing him off.

I looked to Jazz for support, but even she was confused. Rightfully so, because I never actually told her about Wattson’s letter… I didn’t want to tell anyone.

“Kai?” Jake tilted his head. “You in there?”

Every second I didn’t say something was making me seem even less trustworthy. Luckily for me I didn’t bring the letter. Jake didn’t have any proof, unlike me. “W-What are you talking about, J-Jake?”

He erupted into laughter. “Can’t even get a simple lie out correctly?”

“That’s how he always talks, asshole!” Jazz was once again trying to rip her way out of Max’s hold.

“Honestly, Jake. Everyone would believe Kai over you.” Morton’s condescending tone echoed from the back.

Jake turned to face him, a massive smile on his face. “I don’t care if you believe me. At this point I have no reason to lie.” Jake took another look back at me. I tried to plead with him not to with my eyes, but I didn’t have footing anymore. “Wattson isn’t the Ultimate Race-car Driver!”

“What?!” Elizabeth screeched.

The rest of the group was once again silent. There were too many massive reveals in a short span of time. A lot of it was barely believable too. That’s what I was counting on.

“Woah.” Wattson stood up from his seat, and waved his arm at us. “I’m going to have to step in on this one. That can’t be true.”

Jake shrugged. “Well it is.” He turned back towards the entrance and started to walk away. “Like I said, you don’t have to believe me.”

“And  _ where _ do you think you’re going?” Jazz shouted as she tried to kick him.

He stepped out of her reach. “Wherever I want. As Monokuma said, I’m free to explore the school.” He stuck his tongue out.

“You’re just going to let him leave?” Jazz tried to turn her head to Max.

“Uh…” Max looked around. “We can’t really do much right now…”

“ _ Bullshit! _ ” Jazz started thrashing again.

“Jazz…” I wanted to stop Jake, but she seemed like she wanted to kill him. I couldn’t let that happen. I didn’t want anyone to die. “J-Just let him go.”

She took a deep breath and relaxed herself. Max slowly released her onto the ground, and she stared at the entrance. Jake was gone, and we are all just left with the feelings we got from that. Jake had gotten off extremely clean, and still managed to out Wattson. I hoped that no one would believe him, and as long as the letter stayed in my room, it should be fine.

It was so early, but it had already been a terrible day. Everyone looked away from each other; no one wanted to talk about what just happened.

Lena, Austin, and even Zach sat quiet in the corner table. There was a lot to think about. I decided not to join them, and instead go for a walk around the building. I needed to cool off after everything that had happened.

As I walked towards the entrance of the school, Jazz followed slowly behind. I didn’t mind. It was something to focus on instead of the terrible events of that morning. I opened the door and started walking. I really didn’t know where I wanted to go; I just wanted to go.

It was raining; not a heavy rain, more like a drizzle. Usually I’d try to stay out of the water, but at this point I couldn’t care less.

I tried to think of what to do next. Who could I trust? Was Jake still a danger? I may have outed Jake, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t an issue. We still have just over twenty-four hours left until the time limit.  _ Why did there have to be a time limit? Why did it have to be a killing game _ ?

Half way down the stairs, I stopped. Instead of going any further, I took a seat on the wet steps. The ground was a little wet, but it didn’t really bother me. After a few seconds, Jazz sat down as well. She didn’t say anything, but her presence was nice.

We sat there for a while. I wasn’t really trying to keep track of time. In reality I was hoping the day would end as fast as possible.

“I’m sorry.” Jazz had her head down.

I looked over to her with a confused expression. “W-Why?”

“For today…” She mumbled her words.

I still wasn’t sure what she was referring to, but assumed it was about how she reacted to Jake. “W-With Jake?”

She nodded, keeping her head as low as she could.

“It’s okay…” She didn’t move. I really wanted to know why. “W-Why do you hate him?”

Jazz kept her head down, but her hands clenched into a fist. “Because he’s an asshole!” What was a mumble before, had quickly turned into a shout. Her hands stayed in fists, but she sat for a second. I didn’t want to push it any further, as she obviously didn’t want to get too far into it. I felt bad for even trying to bring it up.

“I said it before…” Her voice had lowered considerably. It seemed like she didn’t mean to shout. “I know people like him. They’re all douchebag bullies.  _ Every single one of them _ .” Jazz’s fists unclenched and reached up to her earphones. Her hands shook slightly, as she held on to them. “I could tell immediately that he was a prick. He acts just like them.”

“W-Who?”

Her hands twitched when I asked, and she slowly slid the earphones onto her ears. “Just some assholes.”

From there I didn’t push any further, and she didn’t continue. I was able to get more of a picture as to why she hated Jake so much. In the past I would’ve said that he wasn’t like that, but I just didn’t know anymore. Everything that I thought I knew went out the window. No matter what I saw, I still couldn’t believe that Jake would kill someone. It just wasn’t possible.

After what could have been hours of silence, I heard steps behind us. I turned around, causing Jazz to follow suit. Wattson stood at the top of the stairs with a concerned look on his face.

“Hi guys.” He tried to give off a smile. “Do you have a minute?”

I nodded, and Wattson walked down the stairs to meet us. Jazz moved one of the earphones from her head, and we both waited. I already knew what he was going to say.

“So…” His eyes drifted a round for a bit, before finally setting on me. “Did you actually find my letter?” His expression was painful. It echoed a fear of Jake’s words being true. He was worried.

I looked away from him, not sure what to say. I knew I should have lied; I could have told him it was all fake. But we were all way past that. “Y-Y-Yes…”

He closed his eyes for a second, and took a deep breath. “Can I see it?”

I hoped that he would just walk away, but it was clear that wasn’t going to happen. We all knew something bad was going to be on those letters. It was a morbid curiosity to learn what it was. What secrets had been held above our heads. It was too late; I couldn’t stop him from seeing it.

“Yeah. It’s in my room.” I stood up, and both Jazz and Wattson followed me.

We moved in complete silence; the rain still trickled down from the sky. At this point all of my clothes were starting to soak; we had been out there for a while. I didn’t care. This had been the worst day so far. The killing game was collapsing in on everyone, and Monokuma was making his move. Everything that I had tried to do failed. Jake was still walking around, Wattson was outed, half of the other students were sulking alone. We had only been here for five days, and everyone was already broken. It was only a matter of time before someone snapped. I was broken too. I needed to save everyone, but I just didn’t know if I was able to.

The dorms were quiet; the only sound that could be heard was the soft sound of rain from outside. Still without talking, we walked up the stairs and made our way to my room. The door opened, and we processed to the nightstand, where the letter lay. I couldn’t even say anything, and instead just gestured to it.

Wattson picked up the envelope and read the initials on the front side. He opened it right there, and highlighted the lines with his eyes. After finishing, he started to tear up. He really tried his best to hide it, but he just couldn’t.

After he wiped his eyes, he pocketed the letter. “T-Thank you…”

I shook my head. Nothing I did was right. I had messed up everything.

His eyes were glossy; he looked as though he was trying to peer through me. “Thank you for trying to protect me.”

I couldn’t even react. I wasn’t able to protect him. I had failed.

Without another word, he left the room. Jazz and I were left alone; not sure what to do. What was the point? Everyone else was falling apart. I don’t see why I had to be the strong one. I obviously didn’t have what it took to save people, so maybe I should just sleep the days away.

I peered off longingly at my bed, and thought about how nice that would be. If the days just floated away without any more yelling or fighting. For the first time that day, I smiled.

“Let’s get food.”

My gaze was ripped away from the bed, and was now focused on Jazz. “Huh?”

She put her hand on my back and guided me towards the door. “You haven’t eaten today, have you?”

I shook my head.

“When was the last time you even ate? Was it last night?”

That was a great question. I remembered eating the day before, but I don’t really remember when. My lack of response worried Jazz even more.

“Seriously?!” She shouted, probably scaring everyone in a mile radius. “You  _ need _ to eat. How are you supposed to function if you aren’t eating correctly?”

“I-I…”

“Stop.” She started pushing me down the stairs of the dorms. “Food time.”

Jazz was right. I needed to eat. I really should have gotten food before I left the dining hall this morning. That was a mistake on my part.

Right as we got to the door, we heard familiar shouting.

“Come out!” Lena shouted while banging on someone’s door. “You can’t just sit in there!”

I turned around, and instinctively walked over. Jazz didn’t protest. The nameplate above the door confirmed it was Paige’s room.  _ Has she really not left it since yesterday _ ?

“Lena?” I asked, hoping to let her know I was there. I really didn’t want to freak her out.

She spun around anyway, with an annoyed look on her face. Her eyes shot to me, then to Jazz, then back to me. “Hi Kai. What’s going on?”

I looked past her to Paige’s room. “I heard you yelling…”

Lena nodded and looked backwards. “She hasn’t left her room… I’m really worried.”

“Since yesterday?”

She nodded. “I followed her here after yesterday morning. She locked herself in her room, and I haven’t seen her since.”

That’s awful… I had a feeling that Paige was going to explode when she realized about Max and Elizabeth, but being right didn’t make me feel any better.

Lena let out a feverish sigh. “I-I just don’t know what to do…” She wiped her face with her hand. “She can’t just stay in there!”

I nodded, not sure what to do either. My mind drifted to how Paige reacted when I spoke to her. She couldn’t even fathom the idea that Elizabeth was lying to her. I could only imagine how she felt now. Paige probably needed space.

Lena had turned back to the door and started to slam on it again. “Paige! Come out!”

I tapped her shoulder. “Lena… She’s probably going through a lot right now. We might just need to give her space…”

My words hit Lena and her expression switched. She was surprised, but I think she agreed. Lena nodded, and stepped away from the door. “I-I’m going to go get something to eat…”

She quickly shuffled out of the dorms. I think she realized how crazy she was acting, even though it was for Paige.

I looked off at the door, wondering if Paige was going to be alright. I couldn’t even imagine how she was feeling. She was just another person beaten down by the stupid killing game.

Even after Lena had just tried, I approached the door.

“Kai?” Jazz asked, probably confused after what I just said. She was right, but I had to just try.

I softly knocked on the door. “P-Paige, I know you don’t want to come outside, but if you want, I can bring you some food from the dining hall.” It wasn’t much, but if she was going to stay inside, it was better for someone to bring her food. Nobody should be going without food; Jazz reminded me of that.

There was no answer, but I waited anyway. I hoped that she would at least let me do that.

“She’s not going to answer, Kai.” Jazz put her hand on my back, and started to guide me away from the door.

I tried to hold myself in place; I knew she would answer. She had to. As Jazz forcefully pulled me away, I saw a piece of paper slip under the door.

“Jazz!” I shouted excitedly, even though I was still in the dorms. I didn’t mean to, but she had actually done it.

I raced over to the door, and quickly read the piece of paper.

_ Could I get a ham sandwich (No cheese!) (Type of bread doesn’t matter) _

_ Some fruit (Apple / Grapes / Banana) (No Oranges) _

_ Maybe some snacks? (Chips are fine, but if they have some kind of candy that would be amazing!) _

__

_ Thank you, Kai. I’m sorry about not coming out, but I’m just not ready yet. _

__

I stared down at the note with a smile. It was just getting food for someone, but it was a way to help people. We weren’t done; we couldn’t give up. Helping each other was the only way to stop Monokuma from winning.

Jazz and I walked to the cafeteria, and on the way, I kept rereading the note. Her handwriting was very clean, but stylized. Certain letters had little loops and swishes at the end of them. It was quite nice, but I couldn’t imagine writing like that.

My eyes kept going over the words. I wanted to have it perfect for Paige. Anything I could to make her day better.

Jazz also seemed to be in higher spirits. She had both headphones on again, so I guessed she was listening to something. Maybe she had some music that made her feel better.

We both walked into the dining hall, only to be greeted with a crowd watching Wattson. He was standing in the center of the room. Not everyone was there, but most of the students seemed to be eating.

“I won’t say anything about the kind of person Jake is, but he wasn’t lying about my letter.” Wattson held his letter up in the air with a defeated expression. He opened it up, took a deep sight, and read. “You are not the Ultimate Race-car Driver.”

I looked with my mouth open as he read out those words. He had actually read it to just about everyone in the school. Everything I had done to stop this from happening was worthless.

Morton shot out of his chair. “If you’re not the Ultimate Race-car Driver, then what are you, exactly?”

Wattson shook his head. “I don’t know. This is news to me as well.”

“Hmpf.” Roselia scoffed from a seat in the back of the dining hall. She had a cup of tea in front of her. I didn’t even know we had tea. “I simply do not believe you.”

Wattson nodded, his eyes lowered to the floor. “I don’t expect anyone to.”

“If I may.” Jolly got up from the normal table, and made her way to Wattson. “I would love to see the letter.”

Wattson handed it to her, and she read through it thoroughly.

She turned her head and stared at me for a few seconds. “Is it possible that Kai has something to do with this? His talent is still unknown.”

My eyes darted around the room as everyone turned to me. Was she suggesting that I was the Ultimate Race-car driver? I wished that was the case.

“Maybe Kai not having a talent and this envelope were meant to confuse us.” Jolly looked around the room to see what everyone else thought. She finally looked back at Wattson. “Although he is dressed like a driver…”

“Exactly.” Morton sneered. “This doesn’t make any sense. He’s obviously supposed to be a Race-car driver. Could the letter be wrong? Or a fake?”

“Nope!” A shrill voice sounded from right behind me, causing both Jazz and I to jump. I also screamed, but that’s not really important.

Monokuma waddled past us into the center of the room where Jolly and Wattson were standing. “I, Headmaster Monokuma, recognize this letter as being one-hundred percent genuine!” He looked over to Morton. “I will also confirm that it is Wattson’s letter.”

Zach joined the conversation, and quickly walked over to Monokuma. “Can you also tell us what his letter means? It’s really hard for us to understand.” He gave Monokuma a bright smile.

“Nope!” Monokuma spun away from him. “Some stuff you kids are going to have to figure out yourselves!”

For me that was a relief. People would still be suspicious of Wattson, but no one had the full picture. I just had to hope that doubt would be enough to keep people away from him.

“Well.” Jolly gave a nod to Wattson. “Thank you for telling us about this. I guess it’s a mystery we’ll have to figure out when an opportunity presents itself.”

Wattson nodded, and gave off a rough smile.

Everyone returned to their seats, but we were still at the entrance of the hall. I looked over to Jolly’s table, wondering if I should talk to them. I really wanted to, but I wasn’t sure if I was ready. They were just as friendly with Jake as they were with me; I wasn’t even sure if they would still want to talk to me.

Instead of testing my luck, Jazz and I walked to the kitchen. After reading the note again, I prepared Paige’s order. Before I could leave, Jazz stopped me. She reminded me again that I also needed to eat.

We piled some extra food onto the tray, and left the dining hall. It was nice to have Jazz around. After everything that had happened, she was still standing by me. It was an incredible feeling, and even if no one else wanted to talk to me, I had a feeling I would still have Jazz.

It was still raining after we left, so both of us had to sprint to the dorms. I held the tray of food low, while Jazz hovered over me trying to make sure nothing got wet. It was silly, but actually kind of nice after everything that had happened.

I handed the food the extra food to Jazz, and knocked on Paige’s door. “H-Hi Paige. It’s Kai… And Jazz.”

After a few seconds, the door slowly slid open, revealing a set of tired eyes. She didn’t open the door too much, and looked around the dorms to make sure no one was there. Her eyes stuck on Jazz for a second, but then she finally landed on the food.

“Thank you.” Once again, she opened the door only a little. I handed her the food, and she paused before closing it. She didn’t say anything though, and just softly closed it.

“That was weird.” Jazz said loudly.

I gave her a shocked look, and her face did move to embarrassment. Instead of talking about it out in the open, I gestured that we move to my room.

There, we spread out the food on my bed, and I offered her the pick of anything from my fridge. Her eyes glowed when she realized I had access to cold beverages in my room, and she took a soda.

We prepared our food, and took our seats on the bed,

“She didn’t look good.” I started the conversation back where we were. Truthfully, there was nothing I wanted to talk about more. She looked so tired.

Jazz took a bite of some pastry, looking more interested in that. “I wonder if she has been sleeping. Maybe she can’t?”

That thought had crossed my mind. The whole situation could be keeping me up at night, just like my dreams. That idea pulled me downward, making me feel terrible.

“At least she’s eating though.” Jazz finished the pastry and picked up a small bag of chips. “She’ll come out eventually right? At least she isn’t going to die in there.”

It was weird, but that actually made me smile. At this point the idea that someone wasn’t going to die was enough to brighten my day. We really just had to wait, and give her space.

From there we stopped talking about Paige. While we ate, we shifted to topics like the school, and how things had been since we got there. It didn’t feel like a long time, but out of nowhere we heard the chime.

_ Ding Dong Bing Bong _

__

_ Good evening students! It is now 10pm. _

__

_ The gym and dining hall are now closed for the night! Please have a safe night, and sleep tight! _

__

__

“Wow.” I looked to Jazz. “Already 10pm.”

She nodded, a small smile on her face. “Time really flew.”

I wasn’t sure what to say. It was getting late so we should probably go to sleep, but I didn’t want to kick her out. “Well…” I still had no idea what to say, and my words died there.

“Yeah, I should head to bed.” She hopped off the bed and started walking to the door.

“I-I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?” The entire exchange was sort of awkward, but I was really happy to be spending time with her. It helped take my mind off Jake.

Jazz gave me a thumbs up. “Absolutely. I’ll see you tomorrow.” With that, she walked out the door, and I was alone again.

I quickly cleaned up the garbage from our feast, and deposited it in my trash can. I didn’t really feel tired, but knew that I should just go to sleep. Whether I felt it or not, it had been a long day. And I would need the rest for tomorrow.

Unless someone died, everyone’s secrets were going to be revealed. That included mine. I didn’t know for sure what my letter said, but I knew that it had something to do with my talent. Just like how Wattson’s letter gave away something about his talent, mine would surely reveal my own.

It was a terrifying thought, and tomorrow was going to be a terrible day. But nonetheless, I went to sleep anyway.

~~~

_ Ding Dong Bing Bong _

__

__

I shot awake, not sure where I was. The world rang around me as the chime sounded off.

_ Gooooooood Morning Students! It is now 7am! _

__

_ The gym and dining hall are open again! _

__

_ I will remind you that the deadline for a body is 10pm tonight! You have fifteen hours to kill someone, or all of your secrets will be revealed! _

__

_ Have a great day! _

I rubbed my eyes, not thrilled with Monokuma’s final message to us. He was really hammering in the idea that we needed to murder someone. That didn’t matter; we were stronger than his game.

It was weird that I didn’t have a dream, but I wasn’t exactly upset. No dream just meant that I got a better night sleep, which was always a good thing. Either way I felt drowsy. Was it really good sleep if you woke up in a panic?

Without knowing the answer to that question, I opened my door. Jazz was sitting outside; her back was pressed against the balcony.

“Hi, Kai.”

I gave her a wave, as I wasn’t sure that I could even get words out this early. But I was extremely happy to see her. Having her around in the morning really made me feel better about what happened with Jake. At least I wasn’t alone.

As I left my room, I was able to get a better view of the bottom floor. In his usual spot, Jake stood by the door. We locked eyes for a second, and he smiled at me. This action sent chills down my spine.  _ How could he still smile after yesterday _ ?

Jazz turned around to see Jake’s back as he walked out of the dorms. She spun back around with a sneer. “What was he doing? Is he bothering you?”

I shook my head, not sure what he was doing. It was hard to understand what Jake was thinking at any given time. I thought I had him figured out, but that obviously wasn’t the case.

Just because she saw Jake, Jazz seemed to be in a worse mood already. Once again, she helped lighten my feelings about Jake. It really did help.

We made a quick stop at Paige’s room, as I wanted to put together a breakfast order for her. Eating once a day wasn’t good enough, and if I was going to be her only food source, I wanted to give her as much as I could.

I knocked in my usual soft manner. “Paige, it’s Kai again. Do you want me to grab you breakfast?”

We waited there for a few more minutes just like last time, but she didn’t answer. Another few minutes, but there was nothing.

“She’s probably still asleep.” This time Jazz actually whispered. It was appreciated.

I left it alone, but I definitely wanted to go back after breakfast. I was going to be persistent, because Paige was someone I could help. I had to take opportunities when they presented themselves.

“Morning.” Behind us stood Zach, who looked kind of dazed.

“You’re up early.” It felt kind of rude to say, but I thought he was trying to stay in bed.

He nodded, and slowly looked over at the rooms. “The morning announcements are making it really hard to go back to sleep.” Zach shrugged. “More time in the day. I just need to wake up.”

I walked away from Paige’s room, knowing that if she didn’t answer by now, she probably wasn’t going to answer. “Going for breakfast?”

Zach pulled his head up and down. It was less of a nod, and more of a sleepy motion.

As we started walking to the dining hall, he started to wake up. Zach spun around and extended his hand to Jazz. “I know we sorta met, but you seemed pretty angry at the time. I’m Zach!”

Jazz unwillingly shook his hand. “Sorry.” She mumbled.

“It’s fine!” He gave a half smile. “I know how I can be.”

Without introductions out of the way, we continued through the halls of the school. It was hard to believe that we had all been there for almost a week. I would say time flew, but it really didn’t.

A few familiar faces greeted us as we entered the cafeteria. Elizabeth sat alone at the center table, with a big platter of food in front of her. Morton was at his usual spot in the back right; Ralph in the back left. Neither made a point to acknowledge our existence, but that was normal. The person who really stood out was Jake, who had taken up a seat in between Ralph and Morton. He stared directly at us, holding his signature neutral expression.

“Creepy.” Zach noted. He squinted at the back of the room. “Is he always like that?”

“An asshole?  _ Yeah _ .” Jazz growled. She gave Jake the middle finger, and he responded with an excited wave. This only made Jazz more upset.

“L-Let’s sit down.” I turned left to see a stack of boxes on the table we usually sit at. “Huh?”

“Behind you!” Jolly’s voice carried from the opposite side of the room. She was sitting alone at the table across from the one we usually sit at.

We took our seats next to her, and all looked back at the table.

“Who left garbage at our spot?” Zach asked with a pout.

Jolly frowned and examined the area. “Looks like Monokuma. There was a sign next to the scale.”

_ Scale _ ? I looked around, and hadn’t even noticed a scale against the wall, near the doorway. I had been too focused on the stack of boxes. “That’s weird.”

Jolly nodded. “Yeah, I had hoped it was some sort of secret, but when I got on the scale nothing happened.” There was a pause. “Well it was just a normal scale. So, it weighed me.” She shrugged.

There were a few seconds of silence, but Jolly quickly started the conversation back up. “Pretty brave what you did yesterday.” It took me a bit, but I realized she was talking about me. Her eyes were off to where Jake had been sitting. I wondered if he was still looking at me.

I nodded, not sure if I would call myself brave. I had been scared out of my mind.

“I’d be lying if I said Jake wasn’t interesting.” She stopped staring at him and turned back to the table. “He really did his best to hide his intentions…” She smirked. “Although that seems to be off the table now.”

It was against my better judgement, but I turned around. Jake was in fact staring at me, and he gave me a light wave when I looked.

“D-Do you t-think he’s going to try to kill me?” The way Jolly was talking had brought out thoughts that I didn’t have before. Jake could want revenge after I outed him.

Jolly frowned, and turned her head back to Jake. “To be completely honest, I think he’s just messing with you.” She tilted her head. “But then again, you did out him in front of everyone. I would be careful around him.”

“If he even lays a finger on Kai, I’ll break his hand.” Jazz had both hands clenched into fists, so much that her knuckles were going white.

Jolly laughed. “I guess you’ll be fine then.”

A few more people entered the room. First it was Roselia, who didn’t look too happy that Jake was at her table. Then it was Violet, who had been sitting on the opposite side of Ralph’s table. Finally, Lena came in, and had the same confused look we did when seeing our table. Jolly called over to her, and she took a seat.

After Lena was situated, I tapped her on the shoulder. “I was able to get a food order from Paige. She wouldn’t talk to me, but she did take the food.” I tried to speak in a whisper, as I didn’t want to make it a big deal.

“Really?!” Lena shouted, not trying to keep this between us.

I nodded quickly. It was sort of embarrassing.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Lena leaned in and hugged me hard. I didn’t know if she was trying to, but she was literally squeezing the life out of me.

This had got the attention of the whole table, and now Jazz, Jolly, and Zach were looking at us.

She moved back. “Sorry, too much?”

Jazz nodded, but nobody else did anything.

After that, we all got some breakfast. We were in the dining hall to eat, after all. Just as we started eating, Austin entered the room. It was the same thing as last time. He ran in and quickly jogged over to our table. I think Jolly was getting tired of calling over to people.

She got his attention, but he stopped to look at the scale. He seemed to really be making a meal out of it, but finally hopped on. Suddenly, a quick pop sound was heard from the opposite side of the room.

Austin slowly turned to us, his body shaking. Sticking into the right side of his arm was what looked like a dart.

I saw his lips move, but I couldn’t hear what he said. The world started to slow down, and I could just barely hear Jolly shout, “Austin?!”

The table shook, and she dove off the top of it onto the floor in front of me and ran towards him.  _ What’s going on. What’s in his arm _ ?

The rest of the room began to see that something was happening, and people started to get out of their seats. Lena and Zach raced up to him, and Jazz pushed me to stand up.

“Kai?” She looked into my eyes. “Kai, are you okay?”

I shook myself, and everything started to come back. I nodded quickly and we ran over to Austin.

Jolly had helped him to the floor, and had him reclining against the wall. Violet pushed through the crowd of people that was now forming around him, and pulled out what was in fact a dart. She stared down at it, wordlessly.

“What is it?” Jolly looked up at her. “What did he just get hit with?”

Violet shook her head. “I-I don’t know.”

Jolly sneered. “Find out!”

Violet nodded and pulled down her mask. “Austin? Austin? Can you hear me?”

He nodded, his eyes darting around the room at everyone. He looked terrified, but how could you blame him.

“How do you feel?” Violet moved around the body and examined the wound.

His words were broken, and his whole body was shaking. “I-I f-feel f-fine.” He looked down at the place where the dart entered. “A-Am I g-going to be o-okay?”

Violet didn’t move. I’m sure she didn’t know. After all who knows what was in that dart. Instead of answering, she gave him another question. “D-Do you feel weird? Is anything off?”

Austin shook his head.

I looked past Austin, and noticed Jake lifting up the boxes. Most of them were empty, but under the last one was a rifle. Someone must have hidden it there… I should have checked…

Violet shook her head. “I have antidotes in my lab, I just need to know what he got hit with.”

Jolly shook her head. “Your lab? Where is that?”

Violet froze, and slowly pulled up her mask.

“It’s on the second floor.” Jake walked into the crowd and stood over Austin. “She covered it in tape to make it look like it was closed off.”

Jolly shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. What do you think it is?”

“I-I don’t know!” Violet tugged against her sleeve. “I need to know symptoms. There were multiple different types of sedatives up there!”

Austin took an extremely deep breath, and then followed it up with a few more short breaths.

Violet slowly stood up, her eyes wide. “Oh my god.”

“What?” Jolly kept her arm behind Austin. “ _ What? _ !”

Once again, instead of answering she sprinted out of the room. Her footsteps could be heard running around the corner and moving up towards the stairs.

He took another deep breath, and continued to quickly look around the room. This time he wasn’t looking at us, just looking anywhere. Along with that, his eyes started to droop.

I didn’t know what was happening, but it was bad. One of the drugs in Violet’s lab has just been shot into Austin’s arm. Was there a procedure on how to help someone in a situation like that? I had no idea. None of us did. We all just sat around staring at him.

“Are you going to be okay?” Austin spoke, and then put his arm onto Jolly.

She looked back at him with a confused expression. “What are you talking about?”

He didn’t respond, and instead just started looking somewhere else. He continued to breathe heavily. Most of his breaths were large ones taken every minute or so.

Jolly let go, and stepped outside of the dining hall. She leaned around the corner, trying to see if Violet was coming.

But it was going to be fine. We all knew Violet would grab the cure, and he would be all set. It was a scary situation, but it would be fine.

“Stay with me.” Jolly gave Austin a light smack on the face. “You’re awake. Stay awake.”

His eyes were glazed, and seemed to be looking through her. “I really do love the way this grass feels. It reminds me of that first time in Africa.”

Africa? He was seriously going loopy. It must have been a powerful tranquilizer.

_ Ding Dong Bing Bong _

__

__

The chime caused me to jump, and probably a few of the others as well.  _ What kind of announcement could there even be _ ? We all looked around frantically.

_ A body has been discovered! _

__

__

Those words smacked around the inside of my head over and over. They caused a loud ringing that drowned out everything that proceeded afterward. From the look of it, people were screaming. Half of the crowd surrounding him jumped backwards automatically, while Jolly just dropped onto the ground. Tears formed in her eyes as she stared at Austin, his eyes still open.

After that I lost all feeling in my legs, and just collapsed to the ground. I could see Jazz standing over me, but I was numb to everything. The world was spinning. Maybe I was hit with the tranquilizer too? Everything was moving, and then it all went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again!
> 
> This is part 3 of 4. The final part will be released on Wednesday the 25th, which is the 10th anniversary of Danganronpa!
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed!


	5. Chapter 1: Rose Colored Glasses - Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even after all the attempts to stop one from happening, there was still a murder. Now we had no choice but to investigate and prepare ourselves for a class trial.

I came to the feeling of someone shaking me.

“Come on! Come on!” Jazz’s voice echoed around the room.

“For god’s sake, stop shaking him!” That voice was Roselia’s. “He only fainted.  _ Jesus _ .”

“Well, why isn’t he waking up then? Don’t you wake up quickly from that?”

Roselia sounded even more annoyed than usual. “Yes, if you allow them to  _ lie down _ , and  _ be still _ .”

I started to open my eyes, and Jazz began to shake me again. “Kai? Kai, are you there?” My entire body shook, as if Jazz was putting all of her strength into pulling me awake. I felt like my head was going to smack against something back crack open.

“What did I  _ just _ say?”

I pulled my eyes fully open, to see Roselia pulling Jazz away from me. Jazz’s jaw dropped as she noticed. “It worked!”

Roselia turned her head in disbelief. “N-No i— No it did  _ not _ .”

“Maybe I should be the Ultimate Surgeon.” Jazz threw a smirk at her.

“You're lucky to be breathing the same air as me.” Roselia sneered and then stomped off to the other side of the room, making sure that her footsteps were as loud as possible. It was almost funny to me, but then I remembered what had just happened. I looked past Jazz and saw Austin’s body still slumped against the wall. Dizziness started to take over again, but Jazz gave me another strong shake.

“You can’t faint again.” She shook me harder, trying to keep me awake.

“I-I’m o-okay. I’m okay!”

Jazz stopped shaking me, but kept her concerned gaze.

“S-Seriously, I’m okay. It’s just… a lot.”

She nodded, and looked over at the body. I think it was still hard to believe for a lot of people. Austin had really died. Not only that, but someone had killed him. After everything I tried to do…

Paige flew through the entrance, and looked down to see Austin on the floor. She jumped backwards into the wall with a shriek. Everyone in the room looked back at her for a second. Right behind her was Lena, who grabbed onto her arm for a second. They talked for a second, and Paige seemed to calm down. Then Lena made her way over to us.

“How is he?” Her feet tapped nervously against the ground, and her left arm held tightly onto her right. She looked terrified, but could you blame her?

“Awake.” Jazz stood up, and gestured to me.

I gave her a wave. “Hi.”

She shook her head. “First it was Austin, then you just dropped to the ground…” Lena shivered. “I thought something else happened.”

I shook my head. “No, I think I’m fine. How long was I uhh… out?”

Jazz immediately responded. “Six minutes.”

“So, he just got up?” Lena had an even more concerned expression. “I thought it was like a quick thing?”

Jazz frowned. “I think Roselia’s a hack.”

Lena shrugged, but my eyes moved to Paige. She hadn’t left her room in days… Lena noticed, and followed my eyeline. “I went to get her after the announcement. We’re going to need everyone if we want to figure this out.”

_ Figure this out _ ? Those words bounced around for a second before I realized what she was saying. We had to find out who the killer was. It was an impossible task, that I couldn’t even imagine knowing where to start.

“He missed the announcement…” Jazz noted.

Lena nodded. “We have a short amount of time to… investigate…” Her eyes wandered onto the body. “After that we have to have a trial. If we find out who it is, the killer will be executed…” She paused.

“And we don’t, we all die.” Jazz finished the statement.

“Yeah.” Lena pulled out her Monopad, and Paige made her way over. She still looked exhausted, confirming that she wasn’t really sleeping while in her room. On top of that, her face was completely pale after seeing Austin’s body. Some of the color was slowly returning, but it looked like she had a similar shock to me.

“Kai.” Lena turned her pad around to me, showing some basic information on Austin. “T-This, is the Monokuma File. That thing gave us some basic information about his body…”

I took the Monopad from her, and began to read it.

_ Monokuma File: _

__

_ Victim: Austin Leister. _

_ Information: _

_ Height - 5’6 _

_ Weight - 124lbs _

_ Blood Type - O _

_ Birthday - July 23 _ _ rd _

_ Cause of Death: Asphyxiation _

_ Time of Death: 8:10am. _

__

_ The body was discovered inside the cafeteria on the ground floor of the academy. _

__

_ There appears to be no external injuries besides a small hole where a dart like object punctured the skin. _

Each line was incredibly hard to read. Austin was dead, and we just had to forget about him and try to find the killer? It was disgusting; it was horrific. And at the end of the day, there wasn’t any new information.

I handed Lena her Monopad, and stood up. My body still felt a bit off, but I think I was alright. From there, I took a clear look around the room. It looked like everyone was here.

First my eyes glanced at the body. I wanted to be sick, but I needed to look at it. Roselia was there; she seemed to be examining the place where the dart went in. Blake and Morton stood behind her. Morton was just looking down at the body, but Blake seemed to be filming the scene. He was moving around, trying to get certain angles and video.

Then I turned to the tables. Violet was sitting at the center table with her head down. Max and Elizabeth stood in front of her; they were also surveying the room.

All the way in the back of the room sat Ralph and Wattson. They didn’t seem to be doing anything, and both sat quietly at a table.

Finally, at our corner table, Jolly and Zach were looking at something. Jake was sitting against the wall a few feet away from them. He didn’t seem to be doing anything, but his gaze slowly drifted onto me. I looked away and turned to Jazz, Lena, and Paige.

“I-I think we should go look at the table. Jolly and Zach seem to have found something.”

Jazz nodded, and looked at the other two. “Are you guys coming?”

They looked at each other for a second, and then Lena shook her head. “I think I need some time to process this…”

Paige nodded, her face just barely returning to normal.

We made our way over to Jolly, who was toying with what looked like a gun. Zach stood next to her. He wasn’t helping, more like observing.

“Hey guys—” His tone started off bright, but he caught himself half way through. Zach toned it down and went with a lower voice. “How are you guys?”

Jazz looked at me, as he was probably asking about me. I shrugged, not even attempting to sound happy. “This entire situation is awful.”

He nodded, and looked past me at Austin’s body. Zach winced, and turned back to what Jolly was doing.

“S-So, what is this?” I asked, trying to peer over Jolly’s shoulder.

She turned around, holding the rifle with two hands. “The murder weapon.”

I didn’t really know much about guns, but to me it looked like a normal rifle. It had a trigger, and a long barrel. The barrel looked longer than usual, but that may just have been how they were made. Right in front of the trigger looked to be a small canister.

Jolly rotated the weapon in her hands. “It’s a dart rifle; that much can be assumed based on what happened.” She placed it onto the table, and gestured to a few other items. “I asked Violet about it before. It looks like it was wired to shoot remotely, with this.” She picked up a small black box, and showed it to me.”

_ Remotely? Does that mean that someone could have shot him without us noticing _ ?

Jolly continued. “My first thought was the scale… But then this whole trap would have sprung onto me.” She looked hollowly at the weapon. “Violet thinks that there should be another receiver. That would have been the thing to trigger the rifle.”

I nodded, and looked around. “We didn’t find anything?”

She shook her head.

My eyes focused on everyone in the room. If we hadn’t found the remote, then the killer probably still had it. If we found the receiver, then we would have easily known who did it.

My first immediate thought was Jake. I turned to the left, but he was no longer standing there. I quickly scanned the room, and saw him come out from under a table. From there I watched him closely. He started to crawl under all the tables; he seemed to be looking for something.

“Well.” Jolly sighed. “We’re going to look upstairs. I’m hoping to find some clues in Violet’s lab.” Jolly and Zach walked away, and left the dining hall.

Jazz and I were left with the murder weapon. I decided to give the scene another once over. From the looks of it, not much was actually changed. There were still multiple boxes on the table, and it looked like the murder used them to hide the rifle.

The receiver was no longer attached to the rifle, but it did have a socket on the. I touched the two together, and they connected. The receiver seemed to be built to fit into the rifle; the entire setup was probably meant for remote control.

Besides the receiver, there was a wire on the table. I grabbed it, and followed to where it went. It moved from the table, to the floor, and then moved across the floor to the scale. On top of the wiring was some standard tape. I guess that’s why Jolly assumed that was the trigger. Maybe the killer originally wanted to use the scale, but it didn’t work? It seemed sloppy to leave it there…

The scale seemed normal, besides the wire. But then again, I hadn’t seen the scale yet. To be honest, I thought it was originally in the gym. My eyes followed up to the paper stuck on the wall.

__

_ Monokuma says: It’s important to check up on yourself! In your Killing School Life, nothing is more important than your health! _

_ -Doctor Professor Headmaster MONOKUMA” _

__

__

My body automatically moved into a frown. It was a really weird sign. I wondered why Monokuma would move the scale into the dining hall… But the sign was also handwritten. Monokuma usually printed out his signs, so it looked like the killer actually put the sign there. There was something else weird about the sign. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but there was definitely something off… I decided to take it, and keep it for later. Maybe I would remember.

From there, I left everything else alone, and walked over to the body. It was so hard to look at him, but I had to do it. If we didn’t find out who did this, Monokuma might kill us. It was a terrifying thought.  _ Would Monokuma actually kill us? He couldn’t, right _ ? Those awful thoughts actually made it easier to stand by the body. I hadn’t even realized how close I was to a corpse.

“H-H-Have you f-found anything?” I looked down at the ground, not knowing how long I could actually look at him.

Roselia turned around with an angry look on her face. “There isn’t much to find!” She stood up and stepped away from him. “It’s just as the file says. There are no external injuries besides the dart. And based on how he died, it makes sense that whatever was in the dart killed him.” She shook her head. “I’ve done enough. You three take over.” Roselia pointed to Jazz, Morton, and I.

“Oh no.” Morton raised his hands. “I was just watching.”

Roselia sneered. “Well, fucking  _ do _ something. If you don’t, we’re going to die.”

He looked confused. “What do you want  _ me _ to do? I’m the Ultimate Hypnotist, not the Ultimate detective.”

“Ridiculous.” Roselia stomped away. She seemed to be doing a lot of that today.

Morton chuckled. “ _ Women _ , am I right?” He elbowed me, expecting me to agree.

I shook my head wildly, not sure why he was trying to bring me into this.

He then noticed the look on Jazz’s face, and briskly walked away. If he had waited a second more, I’m sure she would have punched through him.

Once again, Jazz and I were alone with the evidence. I guess it was for the better; we didn’t have to listen to anyone talk while we looked at things. Not like I expected to really learn anything. Morton was right, none of us are detectives. How were we supposed to figure out who killed Austin? The only reason I wasn’t sitting on the floor crying was because someone had to try. Jolly seemed to know what she was doing, but we couldn’t just leave it up to her.

My body shook as I knelt down. Not only was I looking at a dead body, but I was also slowly moving closer to it. Never in my life did I think I would even be in the same room as one, and now I was just feet away. It was terrifying, and I could feel my bones rattling as I tried to move in.

A hand gripped my shoulder, and I looked back. Jazz gave me a small smile. “You got this. It’s just a… Uhh…” She paused. “Just don’t think about it!”

Her words didn’t inspire much confidence, but the thought was there. Having Jazz with me just made the experience a little bit more tolerable. With this new found strength, I put my hand onto Austin’s body.

Immediately, I pulled it away. It was awful. His skin was weird… Like it wasn’t cold, but it wasn’t warm. Just from touch you could tell he was—The shakes started to come back, but that just made Jazz grip tighter. It was a nice feeling, something to focus on. I started to move him again, and got a good look at the spot. It was a small wound, maybe only a few centimeters thick. That didn’t really matter, as the wound was really easy to find. The skin surrounding the hold was dark, as if it were bruised. There was a large purple circle surrounding the area.

It was disgusting; it was horrific. Even after looking at the evidence, I still couldn’t believe something so brutal happened to Austin. Him of all people; he just didn’t deserve it. My eyes started to water, and I just held myself. He was such a good person. Every day he walked into the table with a smile. So persistent; so, kind…

Tears began to fall from my face onto the ground. Some even hit his body, making me feel worse.  _ What kind of person could do this to him _ ?

I wiped my face, and turned my focus to the dart sitting next to him. Just like everything else, it was left alone. People were doing a good job to preserve the scene. It was appreciated, but didn’t make me feel any better.

I had never seen anything like the dart before. It was a small plastic tube, with a long pointy syringe at the front. The back had pink frills that looked out of place on something that was used to kill someone. Looking closely, I could see that there was a mechanism inside that pushed the liquid into whatever was shot. There wasn’t anything revolutionary there; it was just necessary to understand how everything worked. 

There wasn’t anything else to look at, so I placed the dart back onto the ground, and stood up.

Jazz looked extremely concerned. “Are you okay?” She whispered, as not to alert everyone else in the room.

I nodded, knowing fully that it wasn’t the truth. I was far from okay. A friend was dead, and I had to examine his body. I was going to have to try to find the killer. I hoped more than anything else, that Jolly would be able to figure this all out. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to actually go through with a trial. Especially if one of the other students did it.  _ How could I face them? What would I even say _ ? I hoped that I would never have to do that.

After another look around the room, my eyes landed on the middle table. Max and Elizabeth were still standing over Violet. It looked as though she hadn’t moved throughout the entire time I was looking around.

“H-Hi.” I walked up to the table. Max had been observing everyone else in the room, and Elizabeth seemed to be staring off into space. My words only drew Max’s attention.

“Oh, hello Kai.” She looked me up and down. “Feeling better?”

I nodded, and tried to get a better look at Violet. She really wasn’t moving, and kept her head focused on the ground. “Is Violet alright?”

Max’s expression immediately shifted to anger, and she looked down at Violet with disgust. “I hope not. She’s thinking about what she did.”

_ Huh _ ? I waited for Max to continue, or say that she was joking. But she didn’t; Max actually seemed to be pissed off at Violet. “What did she do?”

My comment seemed to bring Elizabeth out of space, and also turn Max’s head to me. The look on her face was disbelief. “What did she do? She killed Austin!”

The air in the room seemed to become icy with that one comment, and my body started to feel the chill. “W-What?” I looked at Violet, wishing for her to defend herself.

“It’s obvious.” Elizabeth’s voice was low and hollow. She stared blankly at Austin’s body.

“She’s right.” Max shook her head. “All the evidence points to her.” She stuck her thumb at herself. “We’re keeping watch to make sure she doesn’t mess with the crime scene.”

I shook my head. That couldn’t be true. Violet wouldn’t have killed someone. She was trying to protect everyone!

“Bingo!” Jake’s voice carried from the kitchen, as he waltzed into the dining hall. He held his hand in the air, with a small object in it. The room all turned to him, as his loud voice was a sudden commotion. He strolled into the center of the room, where Max and I were standing.

“There’s your other receiver.” He pushed it into Max’s hands, and let her examine it. She turned it around in her fingers, and then threw it into Violet’s lap.

“This the other thing?”

Violet’s head slowly moved towards the receiver, and after only a few seconds of looking, she nodded.

“Good work, Jake.” Max snatched it out of Violet’s lap, and passed it off to him.

“W-Where did you find it?” I couldn’t look Jake in the eyes, but it was a relevant question that needed to be asked.

Jake moved around, in an attempt to look at me. After a few seconds he stopped trying. “It was in the rightmost refrigerator.”

_ Refrigerator? Does that mean the killer hid it there _ ? I pulled up my eyes and tried to get a good look at the device. It looked very similar to the one on the table, except this one had a few buttons on it.

“Well.” Max smirked. “Looks like we’re done here!” She scoffed. “Who knew it would be this easy?”

I looked down to Violet, who still didn’t even try to defend herself. But it couldn’t have been her. “I-I still d-don’t think it’s V-Violet…” I spoke quietly, but Max still heard.

“Well, you’re wrong.” Max stepped forward, and towered over me. “The evidence speaks for itself.”

“B-But I know her.”

Max shook her head. “You don’t know her well enough then.” She turned around. “Someone is  _ dead _ . And one of  _ us _ did it!”

“B-B-Bu—”

She took another hard step towards me, causing Jazz to move closer. “Prove it.”

I didn’t know what to say. This was exactly what I was afraid of. Everyone else was so much better at talking that I was. How could I argue with someone like Max? She was so much bigger and stronger that I was.

Instead of fighting, I turned around. I would never win a fight like that. There were more things to look at. Jolly was already investigating the second-floor lab; I needed to do the same.

Jazz followed closely behind. If we didn’t leave, I think she may have fought Max. Not only did I not want that, but I don’t know if Jazz could win that.

“She’s such a fucking bitch.” She muttered.

I didn’t feel the same way. Max was just upset. She was the leader, and someone died under her watch. She had probably blamed herself just as much as anyone else. Her anger was controlling her; I just needed some sort of evidence to throw her off her theory.

The caution tape was still up, and seemed to be another thing that was preserved. One thing I did notice however was a piece of it that was ripped. I remember back to when I was running from Jake, and I got caught on the tape. I must have ripped it back then…

We proceeded through the door, and found Jolly sitting on the bench. She had her hand on her forehead, and a tired expression. Zach on the other hand, was playing with things in the lab. He was picking up anything and everything, with the intent of examining it.

“H-How’s it going?” I leaned down to try and get in Jolly’s field of vision.

It looked as though she didn’t notice us, and adjusted her eyes. “Oh, hi you two.” She sighed and stood up. “Find anything useful downstairs?”

I thought for a second, as I didn’t know what she investigated. “W-Well, Jake found the second receiver.”

Her eyes lit up, and her mood changed completely. “Really?! Where?”

“Refrigerator.” Jazz started to follow suit with Zach, and began to look at the small vials on the table.

“Hmm.” She tapped her head. “So, it was hidden in the kitchen…” She turned around and looked around the room. “Can we be sure that it’s the correct receiver?”

“V-Violet confirmed it… At least that it would work with the other one.”

Jolly nodded. “That’s actually really helpful. You said Jake found it?”

I nodded.

“Interesting…”

I raised my eyebrow. “Is it?”

She chuckled. “Maybe. There’s a lot to think about.”

Jolly was right. There were a lot of random things scattered around, and even more things I didn’t understand. I was hoping Violet would fill in the gaps, but she didn’t seem to be in a good state of mind.

I took a quick look around the lab. “Did you find anything here?”

She gestured to the table. “Carfentanil. It’s the only vial here that seems to be missing some of the liquid.”

I picked up the vial, and started reading what was on the back.

_ WARNING: OPIOID _

_ RISK OF OVERDOSE AND DEATH _

__

_ This product should only be used to subdue large creatures. Any human consumption should be reported immediately, and the affected party should be brought to the emergency room. _

_ Less than a milligram dose is enough to cause death. Under no circumstance should this ever be consumed by humans. _

_ Symptoms: Trouble breathing, Hallucinations, Death. _

__

I slowly placed the vial back on the table. To think that someone used that on Austin. I knew that they wanted to kill him, but this just seemed too cruel. At the end of all of this, I didn’t have anywhere close to a better understanding of what happened. None of this evidence pointed to who did it.

“I-Is there anything else?” I looked at Jolly. Now I shared her same tired expression.

She shook her head. “Just more items that could have been used for murder. I can’t believe we had all of this stuff just lying around. The killer must have had a field day…”

My body felt heavy at the thought. Did the murderer enjoy what they did? Were they like Jake, who had planned to kill for a while? Could it have been Jake…?

_ Ding Dong Bing Bong _

  
  


The familiar chime didn’t even affect me at this point. It was just an expected noise that beaconed more pain.

_ I think you all have had long enough! Meet the statue on the opposite side of the campus! I hope you’re all ready for your first, and possible last, class trial! _

I looked over to Jolly, who started to bite her nails.  _ Were we really ready _ ?

“We should go.” Jolly walked past me with her head down. I wondered what she could possibly be thinking. Did she have an idea who did it? I hoped she did, but at this point it didn’t matter.

Zach, Jazz, and I followed her throughout the halls in silence. When we made our way down the stairs, we ran into the rest of the students. No words were said. What could you even say to someone?

The killing game had done exactly what it was intended for. Someone was dead, and everyone was panicked. Accusations were being thrown around with barely any evidence. I could only imagine the trial being the same.

We moved in a group across the campus, and finally ended up in the cage. Standing before us was the same statue of Monokuma that I first saw when exploring the school. It seemed like ages ago, but in reality, it was only a few days ago. I never liked the look of the statue. It gave me the creeps.

“Monokuma?!” Max shouted, making me and a few others jump. “You’re the one who told us to meet here. Let’s get this going!”

I didn’t know how she did it. How she acted so confident. She wanted to start the trial. She wanted to do something that I was terrified of even taking part of. Didn’t she know that she could die? Did she even care?

There was silence, and Monokuma didn’t respond. I didn’t want him to, but the fact that he didn’t was all the more eerie. On top of that, the statue began to move with a loud grumble. It spun around in a circle, and slowly sunk into the fountain. The hole that remained, slowly closed, and a stone path moved out over it. This path parted the waterfall, and seemed to stop the floor in the center.

With the waterfall now partially opened, we could now see what was behind. There was a decently sized room, with a metal gate covering it.

“Huh…” Max’s face was wiped clean, and even she stood in shock.

Almost everyone else joined her in this surprise. After all the exploration of the school, I never thought there would be something hidden behind the waterfall. I hadn’t expected hidden rooms at all…

Jolly quickly raced forward and began to examine the hidden structure. She opened the metal gate with her hands, and began to inspect the inside. Jake stepped forward, and was the only person to do so. Most of us were still dumbstruck by the events that were currently unfolding.

“It looks like an elevator.” Jolly announced after taking a good look inside. “I believe we are supposed to take this down.”

“Or up.” Jake said with a smirk.

Slowly but cautiously, the rest of us entered the elevator. A few people took their time, but I couldn’t blame them. At this point my body was just moving on its own.

It was bigger than it looked. Surprisingly everyone in the class could fit. On the right side, there were only two buttons. One had a down arrow, and one had an up arrow.

Once everyone was inside, Jolly pressed the down button, and the elevator started to shakily move. It descended into the earth, going on for what seemed like forever. With every second it moved, I felt like I lost more and more control of my body. When I looked down, I could see my hands shaking. After that ride, there was no turning back. Every second closer was moving more towards our possible deaths.

I looked around frantically, all of a sudden wanting a way out. There had to be something. An exit. Anything.

But there wasn’t. It was just us and the elevator. My legs buckled under me, and I had to take all the focus I could to keep myself up.

“Are you okay?” Jazz whispered into my ear.

If I had more control, I might have jumped. Instead I just turned to her, and shook my head. It was true, I wasn’t okay. I wasn’t ready. I would have never been ready for something like that. I didn’t belong there. I just wanted to go home.

She looked around quickly, and pursed her lips. “It’s okay. We’re going to be fine.” Her voice showed me that she didn’t even think that.

I humored her anyway. “W-What makes y-you say t-that?”

Jazz tilted her head. “Well, we did all that investigating, so we should be able to figure it out.” She nodded, content with her answer.

But her words didn’t help. I don’t know if I would even call what we did investigating. “B-But I’m not a professional detective!”

She shook her head. “Whoever killed Austin probably isn’t a professional murderer though. So, it evens out.”

I opened my mouth, ready to argue, but there was nothing. As ridiculous as it was, Jazz was right. I don’t know whether or that would really help us, but she wasn’t wrong. Could we have actually figured it out?

My mind slid into that train of thought, and tried to put the pieces together. An amateur would make more mistakes on both sides, so maybe there was a glaring clue for us to use. Just because we weren’t detectives doesn’t mean we couldn’t figure out who killed Austin. But at the same time, there’s no such thing as a professional murderer. And Jake could be the killer. What if he was a professional murderer?

The elevator stopped with a clang, and I jumped backwards into Jazz. She held me up and peered over my shoulder. “Good?”

I looked down at my hands, which were no longer shaking. I wasn’t good, but I think I was as ready as I would ever have been. I straightened myself out and nodded. “I think I’m good.”

She nodded, and we both proceeded out of the elevator.

The room was incomprehensible at the time of walking inside. As my eyes started to focus, certain pieces started to become real. First, there was a large chair at the back of the room. It had wooden legs, with a bright red seat. It stood high above a circular flooring, that seemed to have podiums in the middle. These podiums were also in the circle. I counted sixteen, one for each of us. The walls were dark gray, with stained glass windows casting light from high above. Finally, I noticed that behind one of the podiums was a picture of Austin. It looked to have blood across it, in the shape of claw marks. These marks moved across the picture diagonally to make almost an “X”.

It was like a fever dream. Everything that had happened came down to this. An insane room in which we had to fight for our lives.

To top it off, Monokuma hopped over the back of the large chair, and took a seat onto it. “Hello!” He spread his arms out to gesture at the room. “Welcome to the first class-trial!”

I think everyone was too shocked to process Monokuma’s sudden entrance. Most of us just stood there dumbfounded.

“So how is this going to work?” Jake stepped forward, seemingly unfazed.

Monokuma laughed. “Eager, are we?”

“That makes one of us.” Roselia stepped forward as well, and pushed herself in front of Jake. “Why couldn’t we have just done this in the school? What’s the point of doing it down here?”

“Spectacle.” Morton said sarcastically.

“Spectacle!” Monokuma echoed from his chair. “That’s exactly right, Morton!”

Everyone turned to Morton, who just shrugged.

“Now, we should get this show on the road.” Monokuma slammed his paws on the arm of his chair. “Each podium has a name attached to it. Please find your podium, and stand behind it.”

There was some grumbling, but everyone shuffled around the room looking for their podium. I followed Jazz, as I was not comfortable with the way everything was happening. Even though it started to make more sense, I still didn’t trust the room. It was creepy, and looked off compared to the rest of the school.

Jazz stopped on the right side of the room, and pointed to a podium.

Sure enough, it had the name “Jazz Veranda” engraved into the top of it. She stood next to it, and I started to nervously look around at the podiums nearby. Morton stood to her left, but nobody was to her right. I peered over at the name, and was overjoyed to see that it was my podium.

I stared down at the similarly engraved “Kai Okami”. Something about these being engraved with our names made me feel uneasy. To my right was Elizabeth, who looked a combination of bored and annoyed. To her right was Austin’s. It pained me to know that he should have been standing there. In his place was just a picture frame. I think that made the whole situation even more unsettling.

The rest of the class got to their podiums, and began to look around at each other. The entire middle section was shaped like a circle. All of the podiums were placed in a way that allowed you to see every single other person. There was nowhere to hide during the trial. For better or worse, I would have had to be staring people in the eyes when I spoke. This added to the incredibly nauseating feeling that was growing in my body. I wondered if getting sick would allow me to sit this out…

“So, Monokuma.” Jolly leaned forward on her podium and looked up at him. She was just about across the room from me. “Why is there a picture of Austin at, I’m assuming, where he would have been standing?”

Monokuma tilted his head. “It wouldn’t be very fair to have Austin miss out on his own class trial would it?”

She opened her mouth, but no words came out. Monokuma’s response actually caught her off guard.

“Besides! It would just look wrong if there was an empty space. Y’know?”

Jolly looked down at the podium and nodded.

“Well, I’m sure you kids are just  _ dying _ to get into this, so I’ll start with a basic explanation of the class trial!” That pun didn’t go over well, and pulled a few disgusted faces from the students. Not that he cared. Monokuma knew that he was doing. “During the trial you’ll present your arguments for who the culprit is, and vote for “whodunnit”. Vote correctly, and only the blackened will be punished. But if you pick the wrong person… I’ll punish everyone  _ besides _ the blackened, and that person will graduate from this academy!”

Everyone was still. We already heard this explanation when he introduced the killing game, but it was still chilling to hear. If we messed up…

“Also, refusing to vote will result in your death, so you better vote for  _ someone! _ ” He raised his paws in the air and spun around. “With that outta’ the way, let's get this trial started!”

For a moment, there was silence. Where would we even start something like this? There was no moderator, not much evidence, and no clear culprit. How could we possibly know how to start?

“So, what do we do when we find the culprit?” Max asked, her eyes shifting onto Violet.

“Is that a question for me?” Monokuma put his paw in front of his face.

“Who else?” Max growled.

“Well, as I said before. You vote!”

Max nodded. “Okay, how do we do that?”

Monokuma stared at her for a few seconds before responding. “I’ll let everyone know when it’s time to vote.”

“But we already  _ know _ who did it.”

“Sorry.” Jake leaned forward and gave Max a small wave. “I haven’t really been paying much attention. Who is it, again?”

Max narrowed her eyes. “I don’t know what you’re playing at, but I guess it’s better we say it for everyone.” She adjusted herself, and stood up straight. “It’s clear to me that Violet killed Austin.”

A few people nodded, while others looked at Violet in surprise. She didn’t respond, and instead just kept her head down. Ever since I woke up, she’s had the same exact look on her face. Violet’s been keeping her head down and avoiding eye contact, but it couldn’t have been her. I wasn’t convinced.

“Even now, she doesn’t even try to defend herself.” Max shook her head. “It’s because she  _ can’t _ . She killed Austin, but was too stupid to even try and cover her tracks.”

“Max is right!” Elizabeth half shouted. It wasn’t really necessary. “If she was innocent, she would at least try or prove it.”

“And you’re sure?” Morton chimed in, a foggy look on his face.

“What?” Max sneered.

“I don’t think I have to explain that this is life or death.” His eyes went from Max to Monokuma, and then back. “I’m not disagreeing. I’m just asking if you’re sure.”

Max’s expression faltered for a second. “Of course, I’m sure. Who else could it be?”

“Could be Jake.” Jazz muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear her.

Everyone turned to Jazz; she was now the focus of everyone’s attention. In my opinion, she wasn’t wrong. I respect her for going against what everyone else was saying.

“How?!” Max shouted. Jazz’s words had quickly set her off.

Jake giggled from his side of the room. “Yeah, Jazz. Tell us how it could be me.”

“Well.” Jazz’s face got red, as she didn’t expect this much pressure to come from her comment. Her eyes darted around the room. I could tell she didn’t have anything. “You’re an asshole for one.”

Everyone continued to stare at her. Some people just wanted to make a fool out of her, while others were genuinely curious if she had something.

“I-I…” She looked to me for support, but I didn’t have anything. I quickly raised my hands to signify that I couldn’t help. Jazz turned back to the eyes that were on her. “His letter says he planned on killing someone… I think that’s something…”

“That doesn’t mean anything!” Max shouted; her face now red with anger.

Roselia scoffed. “I’d say that means  _ something _ . We are looking for a killer here.”

Max turned a sharp expression to Roselia, who looked back at her unfazed.

“I’d have to agree with Rosie over here.” Morton interjected. This immediately drew an unpleasant expression from Roselia. I noted that she wasn’t a fan of nicknames. “I think it would be a mistake to rule him out as a suspect.”

“But—” Max started, but was quickly cut off.

“Would you all just stop for a moment?” Jolly who had been silently observing since the start of the conversation finally spoke up. She eyed everyone in the room, and finally looked like she had something to say. “Whether you think Jake did it or not, we can’t keep just putting our opinions out.”

Max looked like she was about to explode. But she held it in while Jolly spoke.

“Monokuma gave us tools to  _ investigate _ . I did a bit on my own, but you all should have at least seen the crime scene.” She took a pause. “If we’re going to find out who  _ actually _ did this, we’re going to need to go over the evidence.”

Max finally burst. “But it’s obviously Violet! You see how she’s acting. You see it was things from her lab that killed him.” She swung her arms in the air. “I don’t see why we have to have such a discussion about this!”

Jolly waited patiently, but then continued. “We have to have a discussion because every single person in this room had a motive to kill Austin.”

Elizabeth laughed. “Are you kidding me? Why the fuck would I kill him?” She shook her head. “You can’t honestly say that we all had a motive.”

Jolly pulled out an envelope, and shook it in her hand. “Each and every one of us had one of these lying around in the school. If someone didn’t die by the end of today, they would be released for everyone to read.” Jolly pointed her finger, and dragged it around to every single person. “All of us had a reason to kill. Maybe you didn’t have a reason to kill Austin, but maybe the killer didn’t  _ intend _ to kill Austin.” She stopped, and slowly lowered her head. The next sentence didn’t come out as strong. “Maybe he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Wattson frowned. “But I already had my secret exposed. Why would I be a suspect?”

“That’s a good point Wattson.” Jake seemed to be eating this up. “Mine was revealed by Kai, Jolly shared hers willingly, and Paige…” He smirked.

“Shut up!” Lena screeched.

Paige didn’t even respond, and instead just put her hand over her face.

Jake tilted his head. “What? I didn’t say anything.”

“I think it’s Jake too.” Lena growled.

“Go ahead, vote for me all you want.” He trailed off. “If you want to die.”

“If you die too? Why n—”

Jolly cleared her throat. “This is the kind of thing I was trying to avoid.” Lena stopped, but kept her eyes on Jake. Jolly continued. “We have the evidence; we might as well go over it and see how we feel after that. It can’t hurt, and it will allow us to make sure that we’re picking the right person.” She took a deep breath. “Morton said it best. It’s life or death.”

A few people nodded in agreement, but Max still looked upset. I was incredibly relieved. It couldn’t have been Violet. I knew that. After protecting the lab, why would she then try to kill someone? It just didn’t make any sense.

“I agree!” Zach followed up coolly. “Jolly, where would you like to start?”

She nodded, and placed her Monopad on the podium in front of her. “I guess we can start with what we know for sure.” She tapped on the screen furiously. “The Monokuma file gives us basic information about Austin. Things we already know, and can already see on his page.” She paused, and read something on the pad. “What’s interesting is when we get to the cause of death.”

I pulled out my own Monopad, and began to read the Monokuma file again.

_ Monokuma File: _

__

_ Victim: Austin Leister. _

_ Information: _

_ Height - 5’6 _

_ Weight - 124lbs _

_ Blood Type - O _

_ Birthday - July 23 _ _ rd _

_ Cause of Death: Asphyxiation _

_ Time of Death: 8:10am. _

_ The body was discovered inside the cafeteria on the ground floor of the academy. _

__

_ There appears to be no external injuries besides a small hole where a dart like object punctured the skin. _

Jolly continued. “It’s not a lot, but we can pretty much confirm that whatever was in that dart was what killed Austin.”

“And did we ever figure out what that was?” Morton interjected.

“Yes.” Jolly looked over to Violet. “Are you familiar with carfentanil?”

For a second, Violet’s already pained expression worsened. She slowly raised her head and nodded.

“Well?” Max shouted, causing Violet to retract into herself.

“Max.” Jake smirked at her. “If you keep trying to stop us from looking at evidence, it might push us to think that you’re the one who killed Austin.” He tilted his head. “Just a thought.”

The color drained from Max’s face. Jake was terrifying, but he at least got her to stop for a bit.

“Violet.” Jolly softened her tone of voice. “Would you be able to explain carfentanil to everyone?”

Violet took a deep breath, and pulled down her mask. “I-I-It’s e-elephant tr-tranquilizer.”

“Anything else?”

Violet nodded. “I-It’s a-an extremely p-powerful opioid…” She took another deep breath. Her hands were shaking. “B-Because it’s s-so powerful, y-you c-can overdose q-quite e-easily.”

“And is that what happened to Austin?” Jolly’s voice was so calm. At the same time, it was smooth and soft. Her questions seemed nonthreatening. I couldn’t believe how well she was doing.

Violet nodded again, and wiped her eyes. This was another reason why I knew she couldn’t have done it. She wanted to help people, not hurt them. It didn’t matter what Max said; I knew Violet.

She began talking again. “W-When an opioid gets into your b-blood, it t-tells the br-brain that it d-doesn’t need oxygen.” Violet stared off into the center of the room. “H-He… He suffocated…”

Jolly nodded. “Thank you, Violet. That’s very helpful.”

“But we already  _ knew _ that.” Elizabeth groaned. “How is that going to help us figure out who did this?”

Jolly frowned. “I th—”

“Well for  _ one _ .” Jake folded his arms. “I didn’t know about carfenta-whatever, or its effects on the brain.” He paused. “Do you, Elizabeth?”

She shook her head, looking even more confused than before.

Max’s eyes slowly started to light up. “But Violet did!”

My eyes widened as I realized where this was going.

“Exactly.” Jake smiled to himself. “I think our pal Jolly was just trying to show us that Violet was familiar with the murder weapon. Isn’t that right?”

For a second, Jolly lost her composure, and her expression shifted. She quickly looked down, and came back up with a calmer demeanor. “Not exactly.”

“Well, you did good anyway!”

I couldn’t understand what Jake was doing. Maybe he just didn’t have a clear view of the evidence like Jolly. Just because Violet knew about carfentanil, doesn’t mean that she was the killer. There was a clear warning label on the bottle. Anyone could have read it!

I tried to open my mouth, but was overwhelmed by the room. Everyone was staring at each other. If I spoke, they would all be staring at me… What if Jake had tried to argue against me? I wouldn’t have been able to fight back. I held what I had to say.

“I think we should talk about the weapon used…” Jolly followed up in an attempt to push the conversation forward.

Max nodded. “Yes, the dart rifle from  _ Violet’s Lab _ .”

Jolly shot her a look, and she raised her hands in the air. “Just trying to be thorough.”

“It’s true that said rifle was taken from Violet’s Lab.” Jolly spoke clearly, and held a commanding tone of voice. “But as we all know, everyone in this building had access to the lab.”

“And everyone knew about this lab as well.” Jake noted with a nod.

“Wait.” Morton looked confused. “I didn’t know we had access to the lab. It was closed off.”

Jake put his hand on his head. “Oh yeah! My bad.”

“Yeah, I think there was a note the first day from Monokuma.” Blake agreed. “It said it was out of order, similar to the other buildings outside.”

A few people started mumbling about not knowing the lab was open. The only people that knew seemed to be Jake and I.

“Shut up!” Max shouted, causing quiet in the room. “The reason that it looked out of order, was because Violet put up her own signs.” Max shook her head. “She kept people out of the room.”

The few people who weren’t caught up on these events gave off shocked faces and gasped. The evidence was slowly stacking up against Violet, and I didn’t know what to do. At this rate everyone was going to vote for her if she did it or not. I tried to open my mouth, but words wouldn’t come out. They were going to yell at me. Max didn’t want anyone but Violet to be the killer. I couldn’t possibly argue with that.

A hand touched my left shoulder, and I jumped slightly. Jazz looked down at me with a concerned expression.

“Are you okay?”

I shook my head quickly. “I-I want to defend Violet, but…”

Jazz nodded. “I got you!” She looked up at the trial. Max was spouting nonsense, Jolly was looking frustrated, and Jake looked like he was about to throw more into the mix. Jazz took a long breath, and then screamed. “Everyone shut the fuck up!”

Not a single voice remained, and now Jazz had the focus of everyone in the room. She smirked, and pointed to me. “I think Kai has something to say…” She trailed off. “And you’re all going to let him talk.”

Max’s lip twitched, but Jolly seemed relieved.

Every single eye was on me. Exactly what I didn’t want to happen. But I had to defend Violet. I had to do something. I looked down at the ground, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to get any words out with everyone staring at me. “V-Violet closed off t-the room b-because she didn’t want anyone to use the weapons inside to k-kill someone…”

Before anyone else could speak, Jolly jumped in. “And how do you know this, Kai?”

Jake didn’t even give me the chance. “Because Kai and I were in there just about every day!”

I pulled my head up and looked off at Jake in shock. Was he intentionally trying to pull suspicion onto us?

Jake nodded. “Yup. Sign looked fake to me, so we just went right in!” He tapped his head a few times. “Violet was in there every single time we went in. Said she was keeping watch to make sure nobody tried anything.”

“That doesn’t make any sense.” Roselia smirked. “There seems to be a hole in your story.” She nodded, and stood up straight. Then she pointed at Jake with her pointer finger. “If Violet was in there protecting it every time, then how did the killer take the supplies?” She surveyed the responses of everyone else. “Someone’s lying.”

“Or.” Max interjected. “It means that Violet  _ conveniently _ stopped guarding her lab. And then stuff from her lab  _ conveniently _ disappeared. Conveniently.”

Jake nodded. “Max got it.”

Roselia gritted her teeth, as she probably thought she broke the case wide open.

“B-But t-that’s not fair!” The words just slipped out, as they were going after Violet again. Once again, the eyes of the room were drawn to me. I wished there was some easy way to get used to it.

“Keep going, Kai.” Jake gave me a warm smile that I could tell was fake.

“A-After the motive, she realized Monokuma wasn’t going to stop until someone d-died.” I looked down again. If Violet wasn’t going to protect herself, it had to be me. “She was s-spending every day watching the lab. S-She knew she had to stop…”

“And conveniently left the lab open right before the murder.” Max nodded. “Yes, Kai. We already know this.”

“I think Kai is trying to say it’s just a  _ coincidence _ .” Jolly’s voice was less calm, and a lot rougher.

Max scoffed. “Are you really trying to bring up coincidences in a murder trial?”

“Yeah.” Elizabeth growled. “You’re all just making up random reasons to defend her!”

Jolly’s voice started to fill with anger. “I think what Kai’s trying to say, is if you think it’s her, then  _ prove it _ .”

“That’s what they’re trying to do.” Jake was looking at the podium, and scratching it with his nail. He looked completely uninterested with the trial. “But you two are just trying to interrupt us with your opinions.”

Jolly gripped the podium tightly, her knuckles starting to turn white.

“Woah, woah, woah!” Monokuma sprung up off his chair, reminding us that he was listening in. “It looks like we have a split opinion!” He danced around in his chair like it was a celebration.

“What’s that supposed to mean?!” Jolly shouted, still riding off her anger from before.

He turned to all of us. “That means I get to show off The Morphenomenal trial grounds!”

_ The what? _

Everyone looked around confused as to what was going on. At this point I didn’t think Monokuma would actually participate in the trial.

Max looked up at him. “Monokuma, I’d prefer if you stayed out of this.”

Suddenly, music started to play from somewhere in the room. It was incredibly loud, and started to ramp up in intensity. Monokuma pulled out a key from somewhere, and forced it into a console on his chair. It made a dinging noise, and then his chair started to slowly rise into the air.

Everyone was freaking out, as not a single one of us had any idea what was happening. We thought we were going to be arguing about murder, and now Monokuma was starting to float upwards?

My podium shook, and started to go upwards as well. Each of the podiums began to rise as the music intensity went up as well. It was building up with every second as he moved. Each podium shifting into the air.

We all moved up into a small box in the ceiling, with Monokuma at the end. The round trial room was now split in half, with each podium facing another. I stared across from mine, and was now face to face with Jake. He looked down the line to his left, and then turned back to me with a smile.

I frantically looked to my right. Jolly was there, and she looked panicked to say the least. Besides Jake, everyone looked scared out of their mind. As the music continued to ramp up, Monokuma shouted over it.

“Welcome to our Scrum Debate! You brats need to figure out your differences, or this trial can never continue!” He gestured his arms out to us. “Good luck!”

Screens on each side of the wall flashed with color. They spelled out plain text for each of us to see.

_ Is Violet the killer? _

I looked back at Jake, who seemed ecstatic about this. His side had Max, Elizabeth, and Morton. A few others were on his side, but they hadn’t really expressed any opinions about this. I looked to the right and saw Jolly, Jazz, Violet, and Zach. Everyone else on our side hadn’t said anything either.

The beat finally dropped, signaling that we should begin. Max jumped forward first. “Violet was knowledgeable about that lab, and even the thing that was used to kill Austin!”

Jolly pushed herself forward to face Max. “That doesn’t mean she did it! I investigated the lab, and the carfentanil bottle was labeled!” She looked off at Violet. “Anyone could have read that it was dangerous!”

Max’s eyes widened, and she seemed to curse under her breath.

“Well, it’s really convenient that she stopped guarding the lab. Sounds like she was just trying to make an excuse so she could kill someone!” Elizabeth smirked.

Jazz stared daggers across at Elizabeth. “Well maybe you’re a fucking moron! How about that?”

Zach shouted across them. “But didn’t Violet leave notes?” He tilted his head. “And caution tape! She made the lab look closed off so no one would go in!”

Elizabeth looked surprised, and turned to Max to confirm. Max shook her head.

“It’s true.” Zach nodded to Jolly. “We investigated the lab and found the caution tape still covering the door.”

Max frowned. “Well she just did that so people would stay out of her lab! Because of that tape, no one else would bother entering the lab!”

I shook my head. The tape was ripped… I turned my head to Max. I might not have been ready to argue, but I  _ had _ to. “I ripped the tape!”

Max’s head spun towards me. “ _ You what? _ ”

Jake started giggling.

“W-When we found Wattson’s letter, I ran from Jake.” I looked away because she was now staring at me in disbelief. “When I was running from him, my foot got caught on the caution tape. The killer could have seen it was ripped, and found the lab open!”

I looked up, and Jake was staring at me. He had a huge smile on his face, as if to taunt me. “Well, that’s all and good, Kai. But you’re forgetting that even after she said she was going to stop guarding the lab, we found her there the very next day.”

But I knew that didn’t prove anything. She told us she was there because she was afraid… I knew that wasn’t going to be enough. I quickly racked my brain. That was it! I turned to Jake, and faced him. “But she was holding or touching anything! There was nothing to show that she was there to take anything, and she had plenty of times to do that before then!”

Jake nodded, and looked at the rest of his team. “Yeah, none of the evidence actually proves that Violet did it.”

My jaw dropped in shock.  _ What? _

It was the same for Max and Elizabeth. They looked at Jake, unsure what he was talking about. The music cut out, and the podiums began to slowly fall back into their original positions.

“Well!” Monokuma sat back in his chair. “That was an incredible scrum debate!”

Jolly looked around. “So…”

“With none of the evidence actually implicating Violet, we might as well look at other evidence.” Jake shrugged. “We wouldn’t want to have tunnel vision.”

Everyone was still shocked at how quickly Jake changed his opinion. It made me think that was his angle the entire time.

Max groaned, and pulled at her hair with her hands. “We’re not getting anywhere!” She shook her head with her hands still gripped tightly on her head. “We’ve done it your way. We’ve gone through the evidence, and we are still nowhere closer to finding the killer!”

Jolly didn’t respond, and instead focused on her Monopad. She began to furiously flick through it.

“We can spend all day talking about whether Violet is innocent. Can we focus on actually narrowing down who it might be?” Roselia scanned the room to see if people agreed.

“And how do you suggest we do that?” Elizabeth sneered. “Narrow down suspects. Great suggestion.”

Morton giggled at that comment.

“Exactly!” Max’s frustration was showing through. “The evidence isn’t actually pointing us towards who did it. My gut tells me it was Violet.”

Jake’s eyes widened. “Yikes.”

“What?!” Max stared at Jake. “You can’t seem to make up your mind. At least I’m sticking to my pick!”

He stared back at her for a few seconds. “Yikes.”

“Shut up!” Max screeched.

“Yeah, Jake.” Elizabeth shook her head. “If you aren’t going to help, you might as well not say anything at all.”

Blake nodded. “Oh. Shouting that Violet is the killer every three seconds is helping?”

“Nice one!” Zach shot a playful point at Blake.

“Devil’s advocate here.” Morton chimed in. “You two are perfectly welcome to say who you think it is. At least Max is pushing the discussion forward.”

Jolly finally looked up from her Monopad. “Alright. If you want to narrow down the suspects, we can narrow down the suspects.”

“Finally!” Max groaned.

She was ignored, and Jolly cleared her throat. “In my opinion, the best way to do this, is to figure out when the trap was set up.”

The gears in my head started turning, as I tried to follow where Jolly was going. If we could find out when it was set up, then we could try to find out who did it. I guess that would work if we knew where people were. Did we?

Wattson nodded slowly. “Good idea. When was that again?”

Jolly raised her pointer finger in the air. “That’s the question.”

“Well.” Roselia gestured to Jolly. “How are we going to figure that out?”

“We could ask the killer!” Jake offered, sarcastically.

Roselia did not enjoy that comment. And only responded with a stern gaze.

“Actually.” Jolly smirked. “It shouldn’t be too difficult.” She tapped on the side of her head. “Think about it. The trap was set up in the dining hall, and that room has a very special property that sets it apart.”

“Ooo! Ooo!” Monokuma hopped up and down in his chair with his hand raised. “Can I say it? Can I say it? I know! I know!”

Jolly wasn’t sure what to do, and just gestured for him to go.

“The dining hall is closed during the night!”

_ That’s right _ ! The dining hall is closed during the night, so we have a window in which the killer couldn’t have set the trap! I knew Jolly would be able to figure this case out.

She nodded. “Exactly. With the dining hall closed, the killer wouldn’t be able to set up the trap between 10pm and 7am.”

Morton looked up to Monokuma. “Could someone, theoretically, break into the dining hall during the night?”

Monokuma shook his head and swung his arms in front of himself. “No. No. No. No. No!” He leaned back in his chair. “Any student entering the dining hall during the night would be violating the rules!” His red eye started to glow. “And any violation of the rules would result in immediate termination.”

Morton nodded slowly.

Zach chuckled. “So, we can safely say that the killer either set up the trap last night, or this morning?”

“Exactly.” Jolly had a fierce look in her eye. As much as this situation was painful for her, I felt as though she was somewhat enjoying the trial.

“So, what?” Max frowned. “The killer set up the trap last night, and then showed up like nothing happened?”

Jolly shrugged. “I actually assumed the killer did it in the morning.”

Max shook her head. “I doubt it. Elizabeth and I came into the building no later than ten minutes after the morning announcement.”

“Ten minutes is a long time.” Jake stated plainly.

“To set up that kind of contraption?” Max asked.

Jake shrugged. “I don’t know, did it take  _ you _ that long?”

Her lip curled, and anger came over her face. “What are you saying?”

He tilted his head with a smile. “Nothing.”

Max gripped her podium tight; she looked as though she was going to jump over it and attack him.

“ _ Stop _ .” Jolly’s expression suddenly turned to exhaustion. “Max, if you and Elizabeth were in the building so fast, did you see the trap when you came in?”

Max’s eyes slowly pulled away from Jake and onto Jolly. “No. I didn’t go to the dining hall.” She took another glance at Jake. “I went to the gym first. To get some exercise before the day started.”

Something she said was weird. Only she went to the gym?

“Ooooo.” Jake spun his head over to Elizabeth. “If you went to the gym, then where did out little ol’ Elizabeth go?”

Elizabeth’s face started to turn red, as the eyes started to go to her one by one. “I-I went to the dining hall… I wasn’t feeling the gym…”

Jake nodded. “Suspicious…”

“No!” Elizabeth’s eyes darted around the room. “I’m not suspicious! The stuff was already there when I went in!”

“That’s probably what the killer would say…” Morton said with skepticism on his voice.

“Hold on.” Jolly cut the tension in half. “We don’t know that the trap was set up in the morning. It could have been set up the night before.”

Elizabeth nodded quickly for a second, but then stopped.

Jolly continued. “Unless we know for certain that it wasn’t there before the night announcement, we can’t assume that it was there in the morning.”

Ralph slowly raised his hand, immediately drawing Elizabeth’s attention. I didn’t think he would even say anything. He had been silently watching the whole time.

“Yes, Ralph?” Jolly called on him.

He lowered his eyes, and began to speak. His tone of voice was soft, but firm. I had almost forgotten what he sounded like. “I was actually in the dining hall last night.” He followed up. “Until the announcement.”

“Hah.” Jake pointed at Elizabeth. “Not looking good for you!”

The red that had filled her face was slowly starting to drain into a bleached white.

“Keep going, Ralph.” Jolly was trying to ignore Jake.

He nodded. “I didn’t see a box when I was there, and I think I would have remembered it…” He tilted his head. “I could be wrong though…”

Roselia rolled her eyes.

“Ralph.” Jolly spoke softly. “Think. Please. Do your best to try.”

He nodded, and closed his eyes. Then shook his head. “No box. I usually sit facing it, so I definitely would have noticed.”

Jolly nodded. “That’s very helpful. Anything else?”

Ralph looked around the room, but didn’t say anything. It looked like he really wanted to, but didn’t think he could. Everyone stared, and waited for whatever he was going to say. But he didn’t.

“If you have something to say, now would be the time.” Jolly gave him a pained expression. “This really is life or death.”

Ralph nodded. “Elizabeth was the only other person in the dining hall with me. We were there until the announcement.”

“Hah!” Jake started laughing, but Elizabeth’s face looked like Violet’s. All the gazes were once again on her. She was the last person to leave the dining hall, and she was the first person to enter. It seemed like it had to be her…

“Hold on.” Max shook her head. “It can’t be Elizabeth.”

“And why not?” Roselia asked with a bored look on her face.

Max just kept shaking her head. “Why would she?”

“She burned her envelope, didn’t she?” Jake asked, having now calmed down.

“Is that right?” Morton asked. “She burned it herself?”

Jake nodded. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure she did. During Max’s whole show.”

Elizabeth looked on the verge of tears. “I s-swear. I swear!” Her voice was hoarse, and the words seemed to have trouble coming out. “I didn’t do it! The box was there when I went in!”

She looked around, trying to see if anyone would believe her. But just about everyone looked down. How could you make eye contact with someone like that? It seemed like she did it. But was it her?

“ _ Please! _ ” The tears started to drip down her face. “You have to believe me!”

Jake tilted his head. “Why?” He smirked. “It’s obviously you.”

“And to think that you blamed violet the whole time!” Morton scoffed. “A real piece of work you are.”

She wildly shook her head. One or two rogue tears flew off and landed on my podium.  _ Was it her? _ I racked my brain, trying to connect the dots. It seemed like it was her, but it also seemed like it was Violet. Was all the evidence really pointing to her?

Jolly spoke slowly, her eyes low. “Do you have any reason that you couldn’t be the killer?”

Elizabeth looked around. “Uh… Uh… Yeah!” She swallowed, and took a deep breath.

“What is it?” Jake asked with a deadly serious tone.

“I-I uh. I…”

He shook his head. “She’s lying. Realized she’s going to die.”

The word die made Elizabeth almost freeze. She was panicking, but I don’t think she had even fully thought about what was going on. She looked quickly to Max in hopes that she would back her up. But even Max had her head down.

“S-Stop.” The words came out by themselves. I just couldn’t bear it anymore. There was still evidence to go over. We couldn’t pass judgement yet.

“I think we’re done here.” Jake shrugged. “Unless you have anything to say, Max?”

Max shook her head.

“Stop.”

Jake didn’t hear me. Or maybe he just ignored me.

“Stop.”

“Well, I guess we’re all finished then.”

“Hey, are you deaf?” Jazz growled at Jake. He turned his head slowly from Elizabeth over to Jazz.

“Did you say something?”

Jazz made a noise that did not fit in any human language. “Kai has something to say, asshole.’

“Oh!” Jake shook his head. “My bad! Go ahead, Kai.”

I looked to Jolly, who still had her head down. She wasn’t looking at her Monopad. I think she had decided too. It was still so hard to continue, but I couldn’t let it end like this. “W-We still have more evidence…” I took a deep breath. “We shouldn’t d-decide who it is until we go over everything…”

Elizabeth sniffled next to me.

Jolly looked up and nodded. “Kai’s right, we’re getting ahead of ourselves.”

Elizabeth didn’t say it loud, but it was enough for me to hear. “T-Thank you…” It was a surprise to hear from her, but it was appreciated.

“So, what else is there?” Roselia asked.

Jolly looked down at her Monopad again. “We went over who had access to the lab, we went over what was used to kill Austin, we went over when the trap was placed.” She tapped the Monopad a few times. “We should probably talk about the receiver. Maybe we can figure out who had it?”

A few people nodded, and there was a mumble or two of agreement.

Jolly kept reading for a few seconds, and then started the conversation. “So, along with the dart rifle, there was a receiver attached. It plugged into the rifle, and after talking with Violet, it was confirmed that the dart rifle could be remotely activated.” She looked around the room to see if anyone had something to say.

Max followed up. “She also said that a second receiver would need to do that.” She paused, as if to try and remember something. “I think it had to be from nearby as well?” Max looked to Jolly for confirmation.

A few more taps from her Monopad. “Yes, it says here fifty feet.”

“And that means the killer would have to be inside the room.” Zach said smoothly.

“Not necessary.” Jake responded quickly.

Zach didn’t say anything, but instead titled his head in confusion.

“The body was by the entrance. That means they could have been in any room around the dining hall.” Morton shook his head.

“O-Or above.” Elizabeth stated. She was still shaking a bit.

Blake looked around in disbelief. “Wouldn’t they need to  _ see _ Austin?”

Both Morton and Elizabeth’s faces froze as they realized. Jake on the other hand was unfazed.

Zach smiled. “So, that means the killer would have to have been inside the room.”

“That would make the most sense.” Jolly looked down. “Sadly, most of us were actually in the dining hall. So, that doesn’t narrow it down much.”

“At least our current suspects were!” Jake smiled bright. “That’s a plus!”

Jolly ignored his comment, and continued. “And you were the one to find the receiver, right Jake?”

He nodded gleefully.

“Where was it, again?”

He titled his head up, taking his time. “The fridge, I believe.”

“So, the killer used the receiver, and then dumped it into the fridge.” Roselia frowned. “Did anyone see someone go into the kitchen after the murder?”

There was a lot of head shaking and mumbling. How could someone have noticed? We were all too busy worrying about Austin… It was another dead end.

Jolly sighed. “It seems like the killer used the commotion to slip into the kitchen unnoticed.” She began to tap on her Monopad again.

“So, talking about the receiver got us nowhere, huh?” Morton’s gaze drifted onto Elizabeth, who quickly looked down towards the floor.

“Looks like it!” Jake responded cheerfully.

But was that it? What about the scale, and the wires leading to it? Was there really no significance? No one had even mentioned it.

Jake continued. “Well—”

“Wait!” I spoke up again, a chill covering my body. I wanted to be  _ sure _ . “W-What about the scale?”

Nobody responded until Jolly finally looked up. “What about it?”

Maybe there was something left. I had to at least try. “I-It’s weird, isn’t it?”

She shrugged. “I guess. But it doesn’t really help us solve the case.”

“He did step on the scale before getting shot…” Morton added.

Jolly nodded. “True, and at first I was suspicious, but then I remembered that I stepped on the scale myself.” She shook her head. “If it was related, then I would have gotten killed, not Austin.”

“B-But the wires!” Maybe there was something that we were missing.

This drew Max’s attention. “What wires?”

Jolly quickly tapped through her Monopad. “There were some wires connecting the rifle to the scale. They ran along the floor.”

“And that’s not important?” Max asked in shock.

Wattson chimed in with a cool tone. “What if the wires were from a failed attempt? Like they tried to make the scale work, but then just did the remote?”

“Exactly.” Jolly per her hand on her chin. “I had the same thought. Assuming the killer isn’t Violet, I would imagine that they would have trouble putting everything together.”

“Assuming.” Max commented.

Was that it? Could it have just been a failed attempt? Every single piece of evidence seems to point us in a random direction. None of the pieces fit together.

“Whatever. In my opinion, the scale just doesn’t make much sense.” Jolly concluded it like that, with an annoyed tone.

“Well, you should probably make it make sense, because nobody used the receiver.” Jake gave Jolly a warm smile.

Her lip started to curl. “What?”

“The receiver was bait. A red herring if you prefer.” He placed his hand over his mouth to cover up a yawn.

She shook her head in disbelief. “And what makes you say that?”

Jake laughed. “While the rest of you were wasting your time on Austin, I was carefully watching the room. And I continued to do so until I eventually found the receiver.” He winked at her.

Jolly narrowed her eyes. “That’s awfully convenient.” She adjusted herself on the podium, and kept eye contact with Jake. “So, you’re meaning to tell me that you watched  _ every _ single person in the room, and then  _ magically _ managed to find the receiver.”

“Yep.”

“It’s really interesting that you found the receiver.” Roselia smiled wide at Jake. “Did you by any chance plant it?”

Jake looked taken aback. “Oh, I would  _ never _ !”

“Your letter says otherwise.” Morton commented.

Jake shook his head. “Wow, are you all suspicious of  _ me _ now?” He was obviously being sarcastic.

“If I’m being honest, we would be stupid to not suspect you.” Jolly said sternly.

I could hear Elizabeth do a low “mhm” from next to me.

Jake laughed again. “Well, too bad. I have proof that it was in the fridge before the murder.” He paused. “Or, I guess more of a witness.”

Jolly folded her arms. “I’d love to hear it.”

Jake rolled his eyes and waved to Max. “Heyo, do you remember when I handed you the receiver?”

She nodded.

“Was it just got tossed into the fridge cold, or sitting in the fridge for over an hour cold?” He smiled and titled his head.

Max nodded slowly. “It  _ was _ really cold. I didn’t think much about it because it had been in the fridge…”

Jake slowly turned his head back to Jolly; his grin only grew in size. “So, based on my eye witness testimony, I’d say that the receiver wasn’t used.” He paused. “Unless you want to suggest that the killer pre-chilled the receiver, and picked it up before the murder.”

Jolly looked down, her face bright red. “No, I’m fi—”

“Because one of the people in the back would have  _ definitely _ noticed. We could ask one of them if it would make you feel better.”

I could tell that he was getting to Jolly, but at least we were getting somewhere in the trial. That would have been a huge oversight. But I still didn’t know what it meant yet.

“So, does that mean the killer did use the scale?” Max just looked tired at this point.

Jolly tapped furiously at her Monopad. “It just doesn’t make sense. I stood on it for at least ten seconds and nothing happened.” She read something, and then continued. “Maybe there was a third tr—” Her eyes opened wide, and she slowly looked up. “Weight?”

The second she said it my brain started firing off.  _ That was it! The trap was based on weight! _ As I started to think about the murder from that angle, a sad thought dawned upon me. If the trap was based on weight, then that meant the killer wanted to kill Austin. Sadness bloomed through me.  _ Who would want to kill Austin? Why? _

“Violet!” Jolly shouted. “Could someone rig the dart rifle to only fire at a certain weight?”

Violet dragged her eyes off the floor, and nodded slowly. “It’s very helpful when you are hunting animals of a certain size…”

Jolly once again began to furiously tap at her device. “Austin is 124lbs, so that means the trap would only activate at that weight!” Her excitement was restored, and you could almost forget she was talking about a murder.

Elizabeth gasped at Jolly’s statement, and whispered to herself, “what?”

I looked over, and saw a terrified look on her face. Out of the corner of my eye, I also noticed Lena’s grim expression. She looked scared as well.

I followed Jolly’s lead, and headed to the student information section. If needed, I could look at all of them, but there was a place I wanted to start. I clicked on Elizabeth’s information, and read through it.

Elizabeth

Height - 5’5

Weight - 124lbs

Blood Type - AB

Birthday - January 1st 

Ultimate Ability - Cheerleader

I raised my head from the Monopad. All of the pieces started to fall into place. The entire investigation was ruined by one simple misconception.

“Looks like Kai figured it out.” Jake noted, loudly.”

The eyes of the room trained on me. Had I really figured it out? I had a suspicion, but with every second I felt less and less confident.

“Really?” Morton seemed genuinely happy. “Let’s hear it!”

Jolly seemed a little confused, but I think she was working it out. She didn’t have the hint I did. If it was even a hint. I could still have been wrong. I really didn’t want to be wrong.

Jazz tapped me with her finger. “If you actually have an idea, then go ahead. You got this!” She gave me two thumbs up, and the energy I needed.

I took a deep breath; as deep as I could make one. “It’s Paige.” I could see Lena’s face out of the corner of my eye. I couldn’t see it perfectly, but I could tell what it meant. She was saying “How could you?”

There were the same gasps and mumbles from around the room. Jake nodded, making me wonder if he actually knew. Paige on the other hand, didn’t respond.

“ _ Paige _ ?!” Max roared. “You little bitch. You… You…”

“Tried to kill Elizabeth, yes.” Jake finished her sentence with a smile.

Zach shook his head. “Am I missing something?”

Jolly looked up from her Monopad. “Elizabeth and Austin have the same weight... The trap was meant for her, but Austin tripped it.”

“Oh.” Zach, and a few others nodded.

“W-Wait.” Lena spoke up. “We can’t be s-sure it was Paige!”

Jake frowned. “Yes, we can.”

“Maybe someone else wanted to kill Elizabeth.” Lena nodded. “She’s not very friendly.”

“Are you suggesting yourself?” Morton added slyly.

“Ah, no! I’m just saying you never know.”

I thought for a second, some parts of the case still jumped out to me. Could Paige being the killer solve all the remaining mysteries?

Max scoffed. “Honestly, I didn’t believe for a second she was stuck in that room. What, do you not eat?” Max laughed.

A light went off in my head. The note above the scale! I pulled it out and looked at the writing. Something was weird about it, and now I know what it was. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the other piece of paper, Paige’s dinner order. In some ways, I didn’t want it to be true. But the writing was the same. I slowly raised my hand.

“Yes, Kai?” Jolly asked.

“I-I-I…” I took a deep breath. Was what I was doing too much? I shook that off. We needed to be sure. “I actually took her food once…” I held up both notes. “The handwriting from her order matches the one used for the sign that was above the scale.”

Lena’s jaw dropped, and she looked around in a panic. “Wait.”

“Wait?” Elizabeth growled. “She tried to kill me.”

“B-But…” Lena trailed off, then her head shot up. “How did she do it?”

“With the dart rifle, in the dining hall. Duh.” Jake shook his head.

“No!” Lena smirked. “Elizabeth was the last person to leave the dining hall, and the first person to enter!”

“Sorry, Lena.” Paige’s voice was hollow. “But that just isn’t true.”

Jake nodded. “Now this is getting  _ good _ !”

Paige ignored him. “Kai got it right…” She took a breath. “And everyone, I’m really sorry it happened this way.”

“I bet.” Elizabeth grumbled.

“To answer Lena’s question. I knew that that dining hall would open at 7am, so I took all of the supplies I needed and waited outside. The second the announcement played, I got to work.”

Blake nodded. “Smart!”

This drew a few sharp looks, and he put his head down.

Paige nodded. “I tried to get out before anyone came in the building, but the main doors opened.” She gave a light gesture to Max and Elizabeth. “I had to hide upstairs until the body announcement.”

“But.” Jazz looked confused. “After the announcement, Lena went to get you from your room.” She didn’t realize.

“Ooooh!” Jake leaned on his podium. “New developments! Tell us Lena, how long have you known?”

But Lena was frozen in place. I hadn’t noticed, but she started to cry. Her face was already wet.

Jolly had her head down. “If she noticed she wasn’t in her room, then probably the whole time.” She threw Lena a dirty look, but Lena didn’t react.

Paige had her head low. “I’m sorry everyone. I didn’t mean for Austin to die.”

“But you did mean to kill someone, right?” Jake was ruthless.

She nodded, undeterred. “I did. And I won’t apologize for that.” She shook her head. “I just wanted to kill Elizabeth and then take my punishment.”

“Suuuuure.” Jake rolled his eyes.

Paige winced. “Seriously. Monokuma told me that it wouldn’t work unless I made it ‘interesting’.”

I thought about the evidence that I still held in my hand. The notes. “I-Is that why you wrote these?” I wanted to believe that it was true.

She nodded. “Some clear proof that it was me. I hope it helped…”

The room became silent, as everyone was now reflecting on everything we learned. Although it might have been obvious, I had originally not thought of Paige. She just didn’t seem like the kind of person…

Monokuma sniffled, and ripped out a few tissues to blow his nose. “This is so  _ sad _ !” He started shaking the box. “I’m practically out of tissues!”

“No!” Max shouted; anger clear across her face. “Fuck that! She doesn’t get to be pitied. She tried to kill Elizabeth, and she killed Austin!”

Max was right, but I couldn’t help but feel sad. Paige did look remorseful. For Austin’s death at least...

Paige shook her head. “I’m not looking to be pitied. I’m just trying to explain myself.”

“Well, we don’t want to hear it!” Max slammed her fists on the podium. “Can we just kill her already?” She turned to Monokuma. “Can we get this over with?”

Monokuma looked around the trial room. I think everyone just wanted it to be over. “Well, if you insist!”

“Wait!” Lena shouted. “Please, don’t do this. She’s sorry! You don’t have to kill her!”

Monokuma ignored her. “It’s voting time!” He pointed at us. “Please open your Monopads and go to the voting tab!” He continued explaining. “There you will see every student in your class. You need to vote for one of them, or you’ll be punished too!” He spun around. “Gooood luck!”

“No!” Lena shouted. “You don’t  _ have _ to!”

Paige shook her head. “Lena, you have to vote. I’m sorry about everything. I should've been a better,” she struggled with the last word, “friend.”

I couldn’t listen anymore, and tuned them out. But before me was an even greater challenge. I saw the faces of all my classmates, but could I click on Paige? I would’ve been sentencing her to death. I didn’t want to be responsible for that. My hand hovered over the device.

“Don’t want to vote for her?” Jazz asked.

I shook my head. I wasn’t sure if I could do it.

Jazz giggled. “Who said you had to?”

I looked up to her in surprise, and she leaned over and pressed a button on my screen.

_ Vote Counted! _

The tension that I was feeling melted away. Once again Jazz had been able to help me. “T-Thank you.”

“No problem!” She frowned. “This whole thing sucks.”

I nodded, and the room became silent again.

Monokuma laughed. “It seems the voting has finished. Now then, let’s see the result!”

A large monitor descended from above. The screen turned on and showed each of our faces. Red tallies moved up under Paige’s name, but not all of them filled up. Then two moved under Jake’s name, and finally one for Elizabeth.

“Huh, who voted for me?” Jake let out a laugh.

I turned to Jazz, who gave me a big smile.  _ She didn’t even vote for Paige _ …

Lena had her eyes on the ground, but Elizabeth was staring her daggers. It was safe to say that Lena was the one who voted for her. I guess I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t do it.

The screen changed to a wheel with all our faces on it again. It spun with an electronic sound chiming as it made its way around. Finally, it slowed and landed on Paige’s face. Another chime went off, and the center of the board displayed her face in lights.

“That’s right!” Monokuma cheered. “The one who killed Austin Leister was none other than Paige Turburcio!”

We survived, but it didn’t feel like a victory. No one was cheering besides Monokuma.

“And since you were all so eager to vote, I think we might as well go straight into the  _ punishment _ !”

Max nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

Lena left the podium and went under Monokuma’s chair. She dropped down on her knees and started to beg. “Please, just let her live! We don’t have to have a punishment!”

Monokuma tilted his head. “Hmm, really?”

“After all of that, I wouldn’t mind one.” Elizabeth spoke coldly.

Max nodded. “I think so too. We really did work for it.”

“You’re overruled!” Monokuma laughed.

“Please!” Lena shouted.

A red button came out of Monokuma’s chair, and he brandished a wooden gavel. “I prepared a special punishment for the Ultimate Mathematician! It’s punishment time!” He slammed the gavel into the button, and the screen above him flashed again.

Blue and white text read “GAME OVER” and an image of Paige was shown on screen. Monokuma came from the side of the screen, and began to drag her off to the right. The text “Paige has been found guilty. Time for punishment!” was shown under it. The text was quickly replaced.

  
  


**_Solve For X_ **

  
  


The podiums moved from under us, pulling everyone inside them to the edges of the room. A mechanical hand grabbed Paige from her podium and placed her in the center of the room. The floor opened up, revealing another floor under it. There were three boxes, with each one having a letter. One was “A” one was “B” and one was “C”. On the side of the letters were multiple holes, and across from the boxes was a blackboard.

“Seeing that Lena so nicely begged, I’m going to add a special rule to this punishment!” Monokuma spoke from in front of the blackboard. “I’m going to ask three math questions, and if you can get all there right, you can live!”

Lena’s eyes shot open, and a smile started to form. This was Paige’s chance. She was the Ultimate Mathematician, if anyone could do it, she could!

Everyone watched as Monokuma picked up his chalk. “You’ll have ten seconds after I finish writing. Good luck!” He began to write on the board, with Paige studying every detail.

_ (8 - i) / (3 - 2i) _

__

_ If the expression above is rewritten in the form a+bi, where a and b are real numbers, what is the value of a? _

__

_ 1\. 3 _

_ 2\. 2 _

Before he could even finish writing, Paige stepped on B. Monokuma continued.

_ 3\. 4 _

After he finished writing, there was a ticking sound, and the screen above him counted down from ten. She was so confident, I was sure she had gotten the right answer, but it was still terrifying. I couldn’t imagine being in her position.

When the clock hit zero, spikes came out of both A and C. If she had been standing there… I tried not to think about it. His questions were nothing for her.

_ In triangle ABC, the measure of ∠B is 90°, BC=16, and AC=20. Triangle DEF is similar to triangle ABC, where vertices D, E, and F correspond to vertices A, B, and C, respectively, and each side of triangle DEF is (1/3) the length of the corresponding side of triangle ABC. What is the value of sinF? _

_ 1\. 3/5 _

Once again, Paige immediately moved to A. She had this. I wasn’t sure how easy or hard the problems were, but she seemed confident.

_ 2\.  3/6 _

_ 3\. 7/8 _

Monokuma finished writing, and the countdown began again. Spikes appeared in the boxes to her right, but Paige was safe. And she had made it to the final question. If she could get through this, she was clear!

_ In the xy-plane, the point (p,r) lies on the line with equation y=x+b, where b is a constant. The point with coordinates (2p,5r) lies on the line with equation y=2x+b. If p≠0, what is the value of (r / p)? _

_ 1\. (2 / 5) _ __

_ 2\. (3 / 5) _

_ 3\. (5 / 2) _

This time, Paige didn’t move before he finished writing. Instead, he tilted her head at the board. The counter flashed on screen, and started to swiftly move down from ten. She didn’t have much time. But she didn’t move. I could see her head moving. She was rereading something. Maybe checking her answer? The clock ticked down. But she didn’t move.

When the clock hit zero, all three boxes filled with spikes. Sharp metal objects ran through Paige like butter, and I immediately felt ill.

“Paige!” Lena screeched from the floor.

The entire room started to spin as the spikes fell away, and her body dropped to the ground.

“Aww, it looks like she didn’t get it right! That’s too bad.” Monokuma’s laughter was the last thing I heard as I lost consciousness.

~~~

My eyes opened to a familiar ceiling. I turned to the right to see Jazz, who was staring off into the corner. She noticed that I woke up, and jumped out of her daze.

“Kai!”

I looked around the room. It  _ was _ a bedroom, but I wasn’t sure if it was mine. “H-Hi.”

“Are you okay?” She seemed very concerned, which I guess made sense. It was the second time that day that I fainted. Which in retrospect is a lot…

I nodded, feeling fine. If anything, I was just a bit tired. The events of the trial started to slowly trickly back into my brain, and I started to feel less fine.

She tried to smile. “That’s good! You gave us all a scare… Again.”

“Sorry…”

“It’s okay! Don’t worry about it.” Jazz looked down. “As long as you’re okay!”

I nodded. “How’s everyone else?”

She winced. “Well, last I saw, not so great…”

“L-Lena…?”

Jazz looked down. “ _ Really _ not so great…”

I tried not to think about it, but the last thing I saw popped into my head. The way Paige’s body lifelessly dropped to the floor. The split second it was held up by the spikes. I covered my mouth, as something was trying to come back up.

“Are you--” Jazz spun around to grab a trash can.

I shook my head, my hand still covering my mouth. “I-I’m fine.” My words were jumbled, but she got the message. I swallowed, and took a deep breath. “I’m just not sure if I could do something like that again…”

She nodded slowly. “I don’t think you’re the only one.”

“She… She was just doing so well…”

Jazz stared at the floor.

I shook my head. “It’s all so cruel.”

She nodded. “We just can’t let it happen again.” I don’t know if she was telling me that, or telling herself that. Either way I appreciated it. Now that we knew what happened, it was even more of an incentive to stop it from happening again.

Jazz shifted, and was having trouble looking at me. I noticed, but I wasn’t going to say something. It looked like  _ she _ wanted to tell me something. After a minute or two of silence, she finally spoke. “So, Kai…”

I nodded.

“I… uh…” She jumped up. “I… have to show you something.” She ran to the door, and quickly zipped out of it. A minute later, there was a knocking. I let her in, and she had her hands behind her back, and a dark look on her face.

“W-What is i-it?”

Her arm slightly shook as she revealed what was behind her back. It was an envelope, with the letters “KO” on the front.

I felt far away. Like I wasn’t really there. I never thought I would see that letter, especially after Austin died. Was it a dream? Or a nightmare?

She didn’t look at me. “I didn’t know what to do with it… It was in my lab.”

My eyes were stuck on the envelope. I knew it was probably bad, but I was curious. “W-What d-does it s-say?”

Jazz shook her head. “No, no! I didn’t read it!” She waved her hands in front of herself. “It’s yours, I would never!”

I almost instinctively reached my hand out, and she passed me the letter. It felt almost as heavy as Jake’s. I couldn’t imagine what was inside. Part of me didn’t want to look, but another part of me hoped it would tell me just a little bit about myself.

Opening it was an impossible task. How could I look at it after everything that had happened? All the pain these letters caused. Was it really worth it?

I  _ had _ to know.

“Jazz?”

She nodded. “Yes, Kai?”

“C-Could you open it w-with me?” It was the only way I was going to get through this. I needed someone’s help, and Jazz had been there for me.

She nodded, and a smile formed where her frown was. Jazz walked up to me, and put a hand on the envelope. Together we pulled it apart, and slowly unfolded the piece of paper.

_ You are a murderer. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WELL, that is that!
> 
> Happy 10th Anniversary to Danganronpa! 
> 
> This is the first chapter of my killing game, and I hope you enjoyed. Chapter 2 is currently in progress, although I will say I'm very early into drafting. Can't make any promises, but I would love to start posting it early into next year. (although not sure how do-able that is)
> 
> If you're interested, please bookmark, or follow my twitter. I'll do my best to post updates, and keep working hard to get Chapter 2 done.
> 
> Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you in Chapter 2!


	6. Chapter 2: Every Turn, A wall - Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A murderer? Me? It didn't make any sense. Even after everything that had happened, that was still the most insane part about the whole situation. Along with that, we were all still stuck in the academy! My new goal was to work with everyone to make sure another murder didn't happen.

My eyes glossed over the line. I didn’t need to read it a second time like Jake’s. Instantly, the words started to shoot around my brain.  _ You are a murderer.  _ The itch returned, and was followed shortly by a nauseating feeling. My legs began to slowly wobble, and Jazz quickly grabbed me.

“K-Kai?” 

She held me up, as I fell violently into my thoughts. What did I expect? Did I really think there was going to be something nice written on my letter? How had I not learned after everything that had happened? Once again, I had walked right into a brick wall, expecting a different outcome.

“Kai!?” Jazz shouted now, pulling me out of my own head.

I was on the floor now, and tilted my head back to see her. What could I have said to her? I wasn’t upset that she saw my letter, I was more upset that I had nothing to say. No justification. I was a murderer.

She shook me, just like she did after Austin died. “Kai, come back! Say something!”

“I-I… I’m here…”

Jazz’s face gained a smile, and she let out a sigh. “Thank christ. I thought you fainted again.”

I stood up, and slowly stepped away from Jazz. The itch had receded, but it was still there. As my eyes caught onto my letter, it began to slowly pull itself back up my body. I placed my hand onto my arm, trying to wish it away.  _ I’m a murderer. I’m a murderer. _

“What’s wrong?” Jazz asked with a confused look on her face.

Now  _ I _ was confused.  _ What’s wrong?  _ How could she even say that? “I…” She followed my eyes over to the letter. “I…”

She grew a scowl, and walked over to it. “This thing? Who cares about this?”

My mouth dropped open. “W-What?” I didn’t understand.

Jazz picked up the letter and read it again. She shrugged. “Doesn’t seem real to me.”

Now I was extremely confused. It was real. There was no way it wasn’t. We had this conversation before. All the letters were real. “B-But…”

Jazz laughed. “I don’t know. Seems pretty fake to me.”

I shook my head. “J-Jazz… I-It can’t be.”

She took her eyes off me and began to analyze the letter. Jazz spun it around in her hands, looking it all over. After almost a minute of this, she ripped it in half.

“W-What are you doing?”

She continued to rip it, taking each smaller piece and ripping it even more. After she couldn’t tear it any further, she threw the paper into the air like confetti. Jazz watched with a smile as all the pieces slowly floated to the ground.

I didn’t know what to say. Why was she doing this for me? I didn’t deserve this. “You can't just pretend like you didn’t see it…” I could see what she was doing, but I couldn’t let her do it.

Jazz looked down at the ground, a dark look growing over her face. “You’re not like them.”

Her words were lower but powerful. I had only seen her like this a few times. When she was talking about Jake. “But…”

“No.” She clenched her fists. “I don’t know if what your letter says is true, or if you’d even remember doing it, but you’re not like them.”

“W-Who? Jake?”

She breathed quickly. “It doesn’t matter!” Her eyes pulled up from the floor, and it looked like she was going to cry. “Every single other person here is an asshole; you’re different. You’re better!” She slowly moved forward, and grabbed my hands. “I know you’re better than them. I know you wouldn’t hurt people! I’ve seen it!”

Her hands were shaky. But she was right. I wouldn’t have hurt people.

Jazz closed her eyes. “I’m not going to let everyone treat you like garbage because of that supid bear’s game…” She let go of my hand and wiped her face. “I don’t care what your letter says,  _ I  _ know you. The Kai I know would never kill anyone.”

With every word, she pushed the itch out of my body. It did its best to come back, but she smashed it down. Maybe I was a murderer, but for that short amount of time, I wasn’t.

“Kai…” She grabbed my hands tight. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you. Do you understand?”

I nodded, tears starting to well up in my eyes. Such a terrible letter, followed up so beautifully by that moment. Jazz was going to protect me.

Jazz pulled me in tight and hugged me. It felt great, even though she was squeezing way harder that I would have liked. Jazz didn’t care that I was a murderer. Maybe that wasn’t a great thing, but it was what I needed to hear.

We both calmed down, and we sat in silence for a while. It was a lot to take in. Truthfully, I was still reeling from the trial. There were so many things that happened, and I just didn’t have the emotional energy for it all. I didn’t know where I’d be if Jazz wasn’t here. Through everything that had happened, she stood by me. More So than everyone else, I was lucky to have her.

“Are you okay?”

I looked over at Jazz. She still had a smile. It was a weak one, but it was a smile. I didn’t know how she did it. Part of me always knew that Jake’s smiles weren’t genuine, but Jazz did her best to put on a real one. Another amazing thing she did for me. I had almost forgotten she asked me a question, and nodded quickly.

“Y-Yeah, thanks.”

She smiled a little wider, and stood up. “How about we get some dinner?”

I looked at her hazily. “Dinner…?”

She pointed behind me to the window. The sun wasn’t setting yet, but you could definitely see it starting to lower.

“W-What?”

She frowned. “The class trial went on for awhile, and then we’ve been in here.” She tilted her head. “So, dinner.”

I nodded. I guess I did feel a little hungry. After today, dinner would be nice.

The outside air was refreshing. I wasn’t sure if it was being so far underground, or all the events of today, but the clean evening air was so pleasant. 

Jazz and I moved through the halls of the school, not even seeing another person. I had a feeling that just about everyone else was resting after the long day. I probably wasn’t the only one feeling sick.

As we moved around the corner to the dining hall, we ran into a familiar face. Jake grinned and stopped in front of me.

“Oh, hey Kai!” He kept a wide unmoving smile and didn’t try to walk around me.

Jazz planted her feet behind me. I couldn’t see her face, but I didn’t need to.

Jake looked me up and down. “You seem to be feeling better.”

The air was thick around us, and I nodded slowly in an attempt to make him move.

“That’s good. After your stellar performance in the trial today, I wouldn’t want to see you sick.” His smile lowered into a smirk. “You really unraveled the mystery in there. Paige never had a chance!”

Jazz stepped around me, and met face to face with Jake. “Do you have something to say?” She stared at him with burning eyes. Another word from Jake and she might have pounced.

He shook his head. “Nope, just wanted to congratulate Kai. He did so well.”

But I knew what he was actually saying. Jake was implying that I killed Paige… At that point I couldn’t really disagree. Others had an idea, but I was the one to suggest it was Paige. I held the damning evidence that helped convince everyone. Did that mean it was my fault…?

“Then get out of the way.” Jazz’s voice was a low growl. “We’re getting dinner.”

Jake stepped to the side. “Cute. Have a fun date!” He slipped past and slinked down the hallway behind us.

His words didn’t even register. I was still stuck on what he said before. I wasn’t blameless in Paige’s death. But others would have died… There was no right answer, but that didn’t absolve me of anything. Her death.... Her execution was partially my fault. 

Jazz shook my shoulder slightly, causing me to jump back into the world. “He’s an asshole, but he’s right.”

Fear started to nuzzle its way inside me. Jazz thought the same. I… I…

“You really saved my life back there!”

_ Huh? _

She gave me a wide smile. “Not just me either!” She pointed around the school. “If it wasn’t for you, who knows what would have happened. Even though you were obviously nervous, you managed to keep everyone on track.” Jazz gave me a light shake. “Great job, Kai. We all really owe you one.”

Her words were genuine. From what I could tell she wasn’t lying. Did I do the right thing? I guess it would have been way worse to let everyone die… It helped to think that way, but I really wished I could have saved everyone. I promised I’d save everyone…

“Well!” Jazz walked behind me and started pushing me to the dining hall. “Best I can do is treat you to dinner.”

I tilted my head. “It’s not like we have to pay for it though…”

She was silent for a second. “I can still, like, get it for you.”

“That sounds good.”

When we entered the dining hall, it was mostly empty. My theory about people resting was most likely true. Or maybe everyone had already eaten. The small group that populated the room consisted of Zach, Violet, Wattson, and Ralph. It was a weird bunch, but I guess nobody else was there. Zach waved to us as we walked in, and we made our way to the back table.

“Hey you two!” He seemed to be in a pretty good mood after everything that had happened today. I guess it was just impossible to keep him down.

Wattson gave me a small wave, and Ralph gave us a nod. Violet on the other hand still didn’t look too good.

Zach made room for us, and waited eagerly for us to sit down. “Nice to see you up and around, Kai.”

I nodded, and tried to give him a smile. It was embarrassing that I fainted again. I just wasn’t used to seeing the things we saw.

Wattson took a long sip out of the drink in front of him before talking. “Great work at the trial today. Saying you're a life-saver doesn’t feel like enough.”

Jazz nodded, his words backing up her statement from before. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust her, but hearing it from another person really helped.

“Mhm.” Ralph nodded, his eyes stayed glued to the table, though.

That didn’t matter though, as my eyes were also looking down. I wasn’t used to compliments, and I wasn’t sure if they were really earned. “I-It was no b-big deal…”

Zach laughed. “Kids just being modest!” He gave me a light smack on the back. “I for one had  _ no  _ idea what was going on! Kai very literally saved my life.”

There was a “mhm” from the table. It felt weird, but everyone’s praise was appreciated.

“Y-Yeah, K-Kai…” Violet finally spoke. “You even saved someone like me.”

I raised my head, not sure what she was talking about. Even after her name was cleared, Violet still had that sullen expression she had since Austin…”

There was a cold silence, followed quickly by Wattson. “I don’t know why you’re so hard on yourself.”

His words clicked it into place. She was obviously still upset that her lab was used for the murder. 

She pushed her head further downward, and spoke in a low voice. “It’s all my fault.”

Wattson frowned. “Come on, that’s not true.”

Violet nodded. “Yes it is.”

“Violet.” I tried to meet her eyes, but she was still looking down. “We t-talked about this. Monokuma wasn’t going to stop.”

She shook her head. “No. I could've done something… Anything...”

Jazz shook her head. “Nah.”

This caught everyone’s attention, including Violet. A lot of the people at the table hadn’t actually met Jazz. Formally, at least. Violet raised her head slightly. “I co--”

Jazz shook her head again. “Nope.”

“I--”

“I said, nope.” Jazz’s voice got a bit more sharp.

Violet raised her head with a distraught look. “What do you mean, no?”

The air was cold, and I felt like Jazz was going to do something bad. She stared daggers across the table at Violet, and finally shrugged. “Kai’s right. Monokuma wasn’t going to let you stop his killing game.”

“But--”

“ _ And _ .” Jazz shouted over her. “Paige wasn’t going to give up just because she didn’t have your lab.” She sighed. “It’s a waste of time to blame yourself for everything that other people do.”

Violet’s mouth hung open, like she was looking for what to say.

Wattson nodded, extremely happy with what Jazz said. I for one was shocked. It looked like Jazz was about to fight her. I guess I underestimated her.

My brain went back to the trial, and I remembered that even under all this stress she was helping us. “B-Besides, we would have never been able to figure out half of the evidence if it wasn’t for you!” We were getting to Violet. This was our chance to make her feel better.

Wattson nodded again. “Don’t be so hard on yourself!”

She just stared at us in shock; I could tell she didn’t know what to say.

“Just give up.” Zach laughed. “You’re not gonna win against these ones.” He pointed to Jazz and I.

A slight smile cracked across Violet’s face. The first one I had seen since the day before. She nodded slowly. “Thanks everyone.”

Zach popped out of his seat, and walked behind Jazz and I. “It’s no problem!” He zeroed in on Wattson’s drink. “Now more importantly, what is that you're drinking?”

Wattson’s eyes slowly drifted down to the cup in front of him. The glass was adorned with the school's logo, and had a black straw sticking out. He took another sip. “Iced coffee. Why?”

“Because I’ve been watching you drink it for half an hour, and now I want one.” He zipped off to the kitchen, assumingly to make himself an iced coffee.

“C-Coffee? Isn’t it a bit late for coffee?” I was a little worried about that, but I was more worried that he seemed to be enjoying it.

He lifted up the cup and shook it lightly. “Maybe. This stuff doesn’t really do anything to me anymore, though.”

I looked at him in horror. “S-So you drink it, just to drink it?”

He nodded, a confused expression on his face. “If I don’t have it for a few days, I get a craving, you know?”

I shook my head wildly. 

Wattson shrugged and took another sip. “To each's own, I guess.”

Just as he finished talking, Zach shot out of the kitchen holding two similar looking cups. I guess the kitchen was stocked full of them.

“Because I was feeling generous, I made a second one!” He placed one where he was sitting, and held the other one out above the table. “Who wants it?”

Jazz and I shook our heads, and Wattson raised up his own. “I’m good.”

With no takers, Zach quickly turned to Ralph. “Ralph? Can I put you down for a freshly made iced coffee?”

Ralph raised his head slowly. “N-No thank you.”

“Aww, come on!” Zach frowned. “Don’t worry, it’s not poisoned.” 

I raised my eyebrow. I don’t think anyone thought it was poisoned, but Zach mentioning it put that thought in my head. 

Ralph also looked suspicious. “I… I just don’t think I really need it.” His voice was as low as ever.

A loud groan was echoed by Zach. “You definitely need it. You look exhausted.”

At this point, I could tell Ralph just didn’t know how to stop Zach. “No, I just always look like this. I think.”

A frown covered Zach’s face, and he leaned across the table to get closer. “I don’t know…”

“Stop teasing him Zach.” Wattson laughed.

Zach aggressively placed the drink on the table. “Well I made a second one. I don’t want it going to waste…”

Wattson rolled his eyes and pulled the drink closer. “I’ll take it.”

Zach’s face quickly shifted to a smile. “Aww, Wattson you’re so nice!”

Ralph looked relieved, and Wattson took a long sip of his current drink, drying it up. “I could always go for seconds anway.”

Zach raised his class, and they clinked them together. “Amen to that.”

After that, Jazz went into the kitchen and grabbed some food for us to eat. Hanging out and enjoying a meal with people felt weird. So much had happened that day, that eating dinner felt bizarre. Even with that weird feeling, it was nice to be able to just sit and relax. I had been so stressed that week. Maybe it was finally time for a break.

When dinner was done, everyone parted ways from the dining hall. It was getting close to ten anyway, so we would have had to leave either way. Jazz and I said goodnight at my door, and I returned to my room again.

Even though the trial was over, we were far from out of the woods. I was sure Monokuma wouldn’t be satisfied; truly, the killing game was supposed to go until there were only two people left. Even if a solo person didn’t win, we would have to go through that seven more times. I wasn’t even sure I could make it that far…

I dropped into bed and stared silently at the ceiling.  _ We won’t have to go through that seven times.  _ I met everyone in the school. There was no way people would continue to kill. There were obviously certain people I was worried about, but there’s no way we’d go down to two people.

I shook those thoughts out of my head.  _ There’s not going to be a second murder.  _ Jake was an issue, but everyone knows about him. As long as people stayed safe and we all kept an eye on him, there was no way he could do anything.

A sigh released from my mouth, and I slowly closed my eyes. I was having such a relaxing night; I didn’t want to spoil it.

  
  


_ Ding Dong Bing Bong _

  
  


Once again, I shot awake. Instinctively, I wiped my face. It wasn’t as bad as usual, but I had probably still been crying. At that point it was just something that happened, so I wasn’t very worried.

  
  


_ Goooooood Morning, students! It is now 7am. Great work yesterday! I can truly say that I’m a very proud headmaster! _

  
  


Monokuma immediately put me into a bad mood. Could he not even pretend like he cared? Two people were dead, and he couldn’t be happier. I guess that was the point. It didn’t make it any easier to hear.

I hopped out of bed, and made my way for the door. Just like yesterday, Jazz was standing by the balcony in front of my door. I waved, and quickly looked past her at the entrance. To my surprise, Jake wasn’t there. It would have been an understatement to say that was a relief.

Jazz followed my eyes, and looked at the entrance. “What? Was he there?”

I shook my head.

She shrugged, and made her way down the steps. “No complaints from me!”

The weather today was fantastic, and helped brighten my mood. Not a single cloud in the sky. Along with that, the temperature was nice. Warm enough to be comfortable, but not excessively hot. It would have been a nice day to take a walk.

Jazz and I filed into the dining hall. I turned left, but saw an empty table. That entire table was a reminder of everything that had happened yesterday. There was no longer any evidence on it, but the feeling was still there.

Without another thought, I turned around. Zach was already sitting on the table on the other side of the room. He probably had the same feeling I did.

He gave us a bright smile as we approached. There was a tall stack of waffles sitting in front of him, as well as an even larger stack in the center of the table.

“Welcome! Welcome!” He gestured to the waffles. “Have some before they get cold.”

I nodded and took one off the top of the pile. There were also extra plates and utensils in the center of the table. Zach had thought of everything.

There was a familiar popping sound that signaled the start of the broadcast system.

  
  


_ [Jolly] Hello everyone. I hope you’re having a good morning. _

  
  


Her tone was notably more somber than usual, but that was to be expected. It’s impossible to come back today like nothing happened.

  
  


_ [Jolly] There’s no podcast today, but it just wouldn’t feel right unless we talked about what happened yesterday. _

  
  


There was a long pause.

  
  


_ [Jolly] We lost two people yesterday... Not just people, friends. I know that not everyone feels that way about Paige, especially after yesterday, but to many of us, she was a friend. _

  
  


Jolly’s voice didn’t have it’s usual excitement. Even though it was coming over speakers, you could hear the sadness in her tone.

  
  


_ [Jolly] I didn’t know her too well, but I knew Austin. He was a friend, and a smiling face that was always there, every day. He loved to talk, sometimes too much, but he was always genuine. He always wanted to hear what you had to say. He was a g-good person. No matter what h-happened, he was always s-s-sm-- _

  
  


Jolly’s voice cut out, and was replaced by Blake’s.

  
  


_ [Blake] In remembering the people we lost yesterday, we would like for everyone to take a quick moment of silence. If nothing else, we owe them that. _

  
  


He paused, and I let their words sink in. As what Jolly said bounced around my head, my eyes started to water. She was right. He was a great person. Austin didn’t deserve what happened. I lowered my head to the table, and tried to discreetly wipe my face.

It hurt so much. They were my friends, and then they were dead. Everything had happened so fast; I didn’t even have a chance to say goodbye.

I placed my head against the table slowly.  _ I said I was going to save everyone. I said…  _ The tears continued to flow down my cheeks. I had failed to help people. I had failed to help my friends.

_ I’m sorry, Austin. _

I sniffled.

_ I’m sorry, Paige. _

  
  


_ [Blake] Thank you. _

  
  


Without another word, there was a small pop. I guessed that they just shut off the announcement system. What more could you say?

After wiping my face one more time, I looked around the room. Since Jazz and I arrived, the room had become mostly full. The only people I didn’t see were obviously Blake and Jolly. On top of that, Lena wasn’t there. That was an immediate red flag for me. It felt like the Paige situation all over again. The idea that Lena wouldn’t come out of her room was frightening. 

But to my surprise, Lena came walking through the entrance. She looked exhausted, but besides that, not too bad. I couldn’t imagine her sleeping well.

“Hello, everyone.” She gave a wave, before sitting in between Zach and I.

“Oh, h-hi.” Zach returned a wave, and scooted over to make room.

“Hello.” Jazz said in her usual tone.

Lena’s eyes drifted over to the still tall stack of waffles. “Are these just free to take?”

Zach nodded,

“Very nice.” She smiled, and grabbed three off the top.

After everything that had happened, she seemed pretty calm. At least her demeanor was definitely more calm than the day before. It was kind of spooky, but I was more happy to see her up and around. It wasn’t like the pain was going to go away.

Soon after that, Jolly and Blake joined us at the table. They both had gloomy looks on their faces, but Jolly’s was noticeably red. Along with that, part of her sleeve looked to be wet.  _ So, that was why she cut out… _

They didn’t say much besides the standard hello. But that was fine. I don’t think anyone was really up for conversation anyway.

“What’s wrong?” The worst possible voice to hear rang out inside the room. “It feels like a funeral in here!” Monokuma cackled and walked forward into the center of the room.

“Out.” Max shot up from her seat like she always did. I assume it was in an attempt to intimate Monokuma.

He stepped closer to her, obviously not concerned about what Max might do. “Sorry, did I interrupt your mourning of dear old Paige?”

Max’s lip twitched, and Elizabeth kicked the chair across from her. “Nope, we don’t give two shits about that stupid bitch.”

My attention went to Lena, who continued to chew through her waffles.

“Oh, good!” Monokuma tapped his head with his paw. “I was going to say. It would be weird to mourn a killer!”

“Out.” Max repeated.

Monokuma lowered his head. “Such a hostile tone! And after I brought gifts…”

“We don’t want your gifts.” She somehow managed to keep her composure. “Now, get out.”

“Actually.” Jake’s ever familiar voice carried from the back of the room. He was occupying the same seat he had last time. “I’d love a gift.” He looked around with a smirk. “It would be rude not to accept.”

Max sneered at him. “Not now, Jake.”

“Hm.” Roselia looked off lazily at Max. “Why do you think you get to make choices for the rest of us?” She tilted her head.

“I’m the leader.”

Morton frowned. “Did we agree on that? I don’t really remember…”

Elizabeth stood up and stared at Morton. “We don’t  _ need _ your permission.”

The two groups stared at each other, with Monokuma deciding to stay quiet. 

After a bit of silence, Jake stepped forward. “And Monokuma doesn’t  _ need  _ your permission to do anything.” He shook his head. “I don’t know how many times we have to say it. Monokuma is in charge here.”

“Yup, yup, yup!” Monokuma hopped on the table in front of Max, and stood tall atop it. “I have to say, I love it when kids fight!”

Elizabeth looked to Max. Instead of continuing to argue, Max just plopped down into her seat. She wasn’t even trying to hide how upset she was.

“So, as you heard on the morning announcement today, I’m a  _ beary _ proud headmaster!” He danced on top of the table for a second. “You all, or I guess Paige, finally brought me a body! Along with that, you survived your first class trial.” He nodded. “Very inspiring.”

It seemed like Monokuma was going to rub it in at every opportunity. After all that talk, someone still managed to die. I wish he had just left.

“But I wasn’t lying about gifts!” He nodded excitedly. “I have for you two different rewards.” Monokuma paused, and surveyed the room. Everyone was quiet. “The first, is an additional one hundred Monocoins! They will be deposited into your account, and can be withdrawn from the MATM.”

Jake raised his hand.

“Yes, Jake?”

He gave off a very innocent expression. “What’s a Monocoin?”

Monokuma tilted his head. “Well, it’s the school's currency. They are rewarded for doing certain things around the school, and can be used at the shop across the hallway to purchase items.”

Why was Jake asking this question? It’s not like he didn’t know all about the Monocoins. Was he trying to get Monokuma to let something slip? Or was it something else? I started to think about what Jake might want, and then the thought dawned on me.  _ Jake has enough coins to buy a key…  _ I looked over to Jake, wondering if he had already bought it. Was he trying to let me know that he did? I began to panic. As soon as Monokuma was done, I needed to check.

“Certain things?” He feigned confusion.

Monokuma nodded. “You will be awarded one hundred Monocoins for each survived trial, and I’m sure there will be additional methods to earn them in the future.”

Jake smiled. “Ah, that’s good to know!”

“Where is it again? The Shop?” Wattson asked from a few seats to Jake.

Jake pointed past the entrance. “Other side of the hall.” 

Monokuma waited for them to finish. “My second gift…” He raised his arms into the air. “More of the school will be opened as well!”

Although the Monocoins weren’t very interesting to most people, more of the school definitely was. Even Max looked up with a renewed interest.

“The basement, the third floor, and the building on the west side of the school are now open.”

_ Building? I don’t remember a building.  _ Jolly looked confused as well. I thought Jazz’s lab was the closest thing to the school.

“What are all these new areas?” Max asked, her eyes on the table.

“Oh, you’ll just have to figure that out for yourselves!” Monokuma giggled. “That is the fun of exploration, isn’t it?”

She didn’t respond.

Jake shot out of his seat. “Is that everything?”

“I can see you’re eager to get started!” Monokuma didn’t move, and kept his gaze on Jake.

“Of course. There’s a lot to see, I’m sure.”

Monokuma nodded. “Well, that includes my announcements. Great work, everyone!” He hopped on the table, and waddled out of the exit. Seconds later, Jake joined him outside.

“You heard him.” Jolly pushed her chair back. Her face was still gloomy, but she didn’t look as bad as before. “You guys coming?”

Blake finished his coffee, and pulled his webcam out of his pocket. “Mhm.”

Zach joined them as well, and the three of them left through the entrance.

Just about everyone else started to slowly trickle out of the room. After an announcement like that, there wasn’t much of a reason to stay in the dining hall. We were expected to check out the new rooms, and see what new horrors Monokuma included for us.

“I’m gonna go take a nap.” Lena pushed the now empty plate towards the center of the table; she gave us a wave, and briskly left the room.

Soon, all that was left was Jazz and I. She turned to me. “Wanna check out the new places?”

I nodded. “Do you mind if we check out the shop first? I want to s-see something.”

Jazz shrugged. “I don’t mind.”

We went to the shop first, and Jake wasn’t there. That didn’t mean that he hadn't been there already, but it at least made me feel better.

I stepped into the shop, and quietly looked around to see if anything had changed. Honestly, I didn’t really remember everything that had been there originally. It still just looked like random Monokuma or Ultimate Academy merchandise.

“See anything you like?” Monokuma asked from his back counter. I could have sworn he wasn’t there when we entered, but that didn’t really matter.

I shuffled in place, and looked at the floor. “I… Uh…” He stared off at me, waiting for me to say something. “No. I-I’m actually here to ask about a certain item…”

Monokuma nodded. “Here at the Ultimate Academy Shop, we specialize in certain items!”

“Yeah…” I stepped closer to the counter, and tried my best to whisper. “I don’t know if you remember… But a few days ago, Jake and I came in here…”

He nodded. “Yup!”

“He asked for a key…”

“Yep, the key to your lab!” He shouted. Obviously he had no intention of hiding our conversation.

I looked back to Jazz, who didn’t really seem interested in the conversation. Instead, she was looking at the random items in the shop. There was a disgusted look on her face.

“Y-Yeah… I was just wondering…” I trailed off, my eyes were stuck onto the counter.

Monokuma leaned forward. “Wondering what?”

I looked up. “H-He didn’t b-buy it, did he?”

He laughed loudly, and reached behind his back. When his paws came back out, he was holding a key that looked just like the one used to open my lab. “Nope! It’s a real shame, but the price of this key rose to two hundred and ten Monocoins!”

I breathed a sigh of relief, and a sudden smile washed over me. Once again, Monokuma has made it impossible for Jake to buy out the key.

“Tsk. Tsk.” Monokuma shook his head. “Jakey didn’t seem too happy, but what can I say? It’s like you kids never heard of inflation!”

I nodded. It seemed like Monokuma was trying to protect me. At least for a little while.

“So.” He tilted his head. “Are you going to buy something? Or?”

I quickly shook my head. “Oh, no. I was just here to check on the key.”

He slammed his paw onto the desk. “If you’re not going to buy anything, then get out! I’m a busy bear!”

I jumped backwards, and began to pull Jazz out of the shop.

“What a dumb place. Who would want a Monokuma tee shirt?” She shook her head as we walked away.

I shrugged, not really sure why they would try to sell those. “I think it’s more about the specialty items.”

“What specialty items?”

We stopped at the fork, as I tried to think of where we should go next. “You can request any item, and Monokuma will give you a price on it.” I thought about if anyone besides Violet had actually purchased something. “It’s not unlimited, but he does seem to be somewhat fair with things.”

I looked over to Jazz, who lost her frown. “A-Anything?”

“I-I think so. Why?”

Her face became red, and she looked back at the shop. “Ah, no reason. It sounds c-cool.”

She was right. Being able to buy anything was actually a really cool idea. I wish I had something that I wanted.  _ Maybe I should buy one of the Monokuma tee shirts.  _ I looked down at my ripped clothes. I didn’t want to wear something of his, but it might have been nicer than what I had…

“So!” Jazz loudly jumped in front of me. “W-Where are we going next?”

I hopped back into thought about what was next. The third floor and the basement were definitely open, as well as some mystery building outside. I wasn’t sure if there was a smart way of exploring. I decided to explore the school from the bottom up. There wasn’t much of a reason, I just felt like it would be a bit easier.

“Want to do the basement?” I asked, because I didn’t want to just push Jazz around.

She nodded. “Sure.”

We made our way down the hall to the newly opened basement. Where there was the metal gate, there was just an open back to the staircase. At the bottom of the staircase was a really surprising room.

There was a massive field. Perpendicular to the staircase, there was a normal flooring. It went across the length of the basement, but was only around 2 feet wide. Past the walkway, the entire rest of the basement was a field.

I stared off at it with a confused expression on my face. Why would anyone want to put a field underground? There was such a large outside area. Why not put it out there?

We moved forward into the room and spotted Zach out in the middle of it. He had a sort of long hammer in his hand and was hitting a ball around.

It wasn’t just a field. There were small white arches scattered around the area. For the most part, there were in a figure eight set up, with two sticks on either side. I guessed that it was a game field? I didn’t know what game it was though.

“Hi!” Zach shouted from the left side of the room. He waved his mallet at us, and beconied us to join him.

As I stepped onto the field, something about it felt weird. Before going any further, I inspected the ground. I should have realized it earlier, but it was like fake grass. I guess that made more sense for an inside field.

Jazz and I made our way over to Zach, who was lining up a shot. He was trying to hit a ball through one of the arches on the left side.

“Hello.” I said as we finally reached him.

“Hold on, Kai.” He stood still, his eye on the ball. “I’m about to sink the shot of a lifetime!”

We waited silently, as Zach finally smacked dthe ball. It sailed right through the first arch, and then went through a second one right behind it. The ball continued to move, until finally hitting the multicolored stick at the end of the field.

Zach turned to us, and bowed. “As I said. Shot of a lifetime!”

“G-Good job!” I tried to sound excited, but I have no idea if what he had done was impressive or not. I guess it was, but the arches were right next to each other.

“Thank you, thank you!” He turned to Jazz. “Hello, Jazz!”

She was looking off to the left, but her gaze was broken by Zach. “Oh, hi.”

“I guess you guys came to the croquet field first! Good idea.”

I took another look around the room. It was a croquet field? That sounded familiar, but I couldn’t quite figure it out. “So that’s what this is?” I was really still looking for an explanation.

“What?!” Zach jumped in front of me. “You don’t know croquet?”

I put my hands up, and shook my head. Was it bad to not know what croquet is?

“Kai!  _ Kai! _ ” He put his head back and moved around. “Kai!”

I looked at the floor, not sure what to say.

Someone scoffed from the side of the room. “I’m surprised someone like you even knows what croquet is.” I turned, and saw what Jazz had been looking at. Roselia had been in the room the whole time. She sneered at the three of us, but placed her attention onto Zach. “I’d have thought you were more of a,” she frowned, “baseball player.”

Her condescending tone didn’t phase Zach. “Nah. My dad had this  _ huge _ croquet field at the summer house!” He smiled. “It was my favorite thing to do when we were there. I tried to get him to get something similar at the main house, but he didn’t want it interfering with the golf course.”

Roselia’s lip twitched, and she abandoned the conversation all together. “Well, it looks like there are balls and mallets for each of us.” She motioned to the wall. To the left of the stairs, there was a stand in the wall with a bunch of different items.

I walked with Roselia over to it, and she seemed to be right. Across the wall there were sixteen mallets, similar to what Zach had, with a ball underneath. Each one seemed to have a symbol engraved into it. I saw a mask, claws, a music note, and a camera. There seemed to be a symbol for each person at the school, including Austin and Paige…

My eyes glanced over all of them, looking for mine. Finally, my eyes landed on a ball with a question mark on it. It seemed as though Monokuma was still trying to protect me for the time being. Or maybe he was waiting for me to say something?

“So.” Zach called from the course. It seemed like he was still playing. “You three up for a game?”

Roselia scoffed. “With you? Absolutely not.” She turned away, and walked back up the stairs. Why did she even come down here if she was just going to complain?

Zach shrugged. “You two look like you could really go for a round of croquet!”

I looked over to Jazz, who looked like she wanted to do literally anything else. 

“Sorry, Zach.” I could see the smile slowly leave his face. “We’re checking out new areas right now.”

He looked down. “Oh, ok.” The sadness in his voice was heartbreaking.

“B-But, we should play a big game this week.”

A smile popped back up. “Like, with everyone in the school?” He nodded quickly, and looked over to the wall. “There is enough stuff for everyone to play!”

I realized what I had done. I’m sure it would have been Zach happy, but did I really want to play a game with every other person in the school? Jake, Max, Elizabeth… For the moment I shrugged it off. It’s not like any of them would actually agree to play.

“You are a genius, Kai!” He at least seemed a lot happier. “I’ll ask around, see who’s  _ game _ !” He laughed.

“Sounds great! Let me know when we’ll play, and I’ll be there.” I really hoped I didn’t get myself into something I couldn’t handle. I wondered if the game was difficult. 

As we walked up the steps, Jazz whispered to me. “I don’t want to play croquet.”

I looked at her, a pleading expression on my face. “I d-don’t want to do it alone.”

She gave me a pained looked, and then sighed. “Fine. But I don’t know how to play.”

“Me neither.”

Jazz groaned.

We continued through the school up to the second floor. I remembered there being a gate to the third floor up there. Past Morton’s lab, around the walkway above the main hall was a set of stairs.

The gate that had been there the last time I checked was gone. I wondered how many floors were even in this school? Of course having a few floors made a lot of sense, but there were only sixteen of us. My brain corrected itself, knowing that we were down to fourteen…

As we walked up the stairs, that thought overwhelmed me. In a flash, two people were gone. Two real people. Did the school feel more empty? I wasn’t sure.

“You okay?” 

I shook myself and looked to Jazz. She squinted her eyes and peered through me.

“I-I… Uh, I think so.” 

She nodded. “You just looked a bit out of it.”

I tried to come up with some sort of excuse, but I couldn’t. “Y-You’re not wrong…”

“What’s wrong then?” Jazz stepped in front of me, and blocked me from going any further up the stairs. She towered over me already, but when she was a step higher, Jazz managed to be even larger. Somehow her presence wasn’t imposing. The larger she felt, the more comforting it was.

“I’m thinking about… Austin and Paige.” There was no reason to lie to her. Jazz was there for me.

She nodded, her face pulling into a frown. “Oh.” Jazz turned away, and then looked back. “Can you try to  _ not _ think about them?”

I looked at her in shock, but quickly realized that she was being serious. Jazz held a pained expression. I guess she wasn’t wrong, there wasn’t really a better way to make painful thoughts go away. I had a feeling I would be carrying these feelings for the rest of my time there.

She didn’t know it, but just having her here was helping me. Jazz managed to take my mind of all the terrible thoughts of the killing game. I smiled. “Talking to you actually helps me do that…”

Jazz tilted her head for a second, and then nodded. “Okay, then what do you want to talk about?”

I didn’t know. I rarely ever started conversations… While she stared at me, I looked around the stairway trying to come up with something. Finally, I landed on her earphones. “W-What kind of music do you like?” It was almost weird that I hadn’t asked that to the Ultimate DJ. 

Her eyes lit up, and she began walking up the stairs backwards. “That’s a good question!” We reached the top of the stairs, and she frowned. “So electronic is great, and I need to know all of the big pop songs for when I do gigs.”

I was trying to listen, but my eyes caught what looked like a room right in front of us. It was hard to see, because the door seemed to be perpendicular to the staircase. I guided Jazz forward, because she definitely wasn’t paying attention to where she was walking.

“But I think if I had to choose a favorite, hmm.” Jazz frowned. “Okay, my top two are Country and Metal!”

_ What?  _ She nodded to herself, seemingly satisfied with her answer. I wasn’t going to protest, but those didn’t really seem to fit together.

“What about you?”

As we approached the door, I tried to think about what music I liked. But my head was blank. What kind of music did I like? I couldn’t remember… Then it dawned on me again. I lost my memories.

Jazz stepped forward and grabbed the door handle. The entrance to the room looked very plain. It was a normal wooden door, with a glass pane at about eye level. Although there was something covering it; you couldn’t see inside. On the door was an X, which told me who’s lab it was.

When she tried to turn the door handle, it made a shaking sound, and she walked directly into the door.

“Ow!” She jolted back, with her hand on her forehead.

_ Paige’s lab… _

“You really walked head-first into that one!” Monokuma’s shrill voice called from behind us.

Jazz showed off her teeth, and looked as though she was about to jump him.

“H-Hold on!” I stammered, hoping to stop her from getting killed.

Surprisingly, she stood still, and turned her attention to me. I gave her the best impression of a stern look I could; after a few seconds, she sighed.

“Wowie, Kai! You have her all trained.” He laughed. “It’s funny, you’ve got  _ her _ acting like a dog!”

I froze, wondering why Monokuma would say that. That comment was almost certainly directed at my talent. Up until this point, I assumed that Monokuma was going to help me protect my secret. I guessed that Monokuma helping someone would be too unrealistic. 

“No.” Jazz growled. “I just listen to Kai because he’s my friend.”

Monokuma’s attitude switched immediately. “Whatever lets you sleep at night!” Like nothing happened, it switched back. “Besides! I’m here for a reason!”

I looked back at Paige’s lab, knowing that reason wouldn’t be good.

“The purpose of the labs in this academy are to help the students continue to cultivate their talents.” He lowered his head. “Sadly, Miss Tuburcio is no longer with us, so the lab will stay locked the remainder of the game.”

It was disgusting. He was the one that executed Paige, and now he’s acting like he misses her. This bear, or whoever’s controlling him, is a psychopath.

Jazz looked over to him. “Why don’t you just  _ fuck off _ ?”

There was a potent silence.

Monokuma tilted his head. “Oh?”

“You heard me. Fuck off!” Jazz was boiling over. Did she feel the same way? 

His eye glowed a bright shade of red. “You brats are so disrespectful to your headmaster. You’re very lucky that I’m not allowed to kill you myself.” There wasn’t a whimsical laugh that followed his statement, there was only a dark stare.

“Good. Then if you’re done here, would you mind  _ fucking off? _ ” Jazz stepped forward, and towered over Monokuma. I doubt he was intimidated, but even I was a bit scared.

There wasn’t a response, and instead Monokuma just silently moved down the stairs. It was eerie, and the opposite of his usual performance. I never thought I would be wishing for Monkuma to be more cheery. 

“S-Should we keep going?” I asked, hoping that Jazz wouldn’t snap on me next.

She turned to me, and her sneer turned into a smile. “Sure!”

We continued silently down the hallway. Jazz really could get loud and scary. I was happy to have her on my side. Maybe Jake wouldn’t mess with me that way.

To the right of the stairs was another hallway. To nobody's surprise, there was another balcony overlooking the main hall. It didn’t really bother me, but it was definitely weird to see on every floor. Upon looking up, I noticed that there were no other floors above this one. So either this was the final floor, or the next floor didn’t have a balcony.

On the other side, there was another hallway that continued forward. At the end, there was another set of stairs covered by a familiar metal gate. That slashed there being no more floors. I was beginning to think the school was endless.

But to the right of  _ those  _ stairs, there was another room. As we walked forward, Roselia briskly moved out of the exit.

“Ugh, are you two  _ following _ me?” She looked me up and down, and then sneered. I think she was referencing my clothing.

“Why would we want to follow you?” Jazz gave her a quizzical look. I don’t think she meant it as an insult. I think she was serious.

“How should  _ I  _ know?” Roselia scoffed and rushed past us.

A loud sigh came out of Jazz’s mouth. “Why does everyone in here act like that?” She looked to me for an answer, but I just shrugged. Maybe they were all on edge?

The entrance of the room didn’t actually have a door. Instead, it was just an open room. It was nothing spectacular, but I appreciated the change of pace. 

On the other hand, the inside was incredible. It was a square room, with multi-colored carpet on the floor. That was cool, but the walls were lined with class cabinets. Inside those cabinets were rocks.

Every case was filled with them, and each wall had a massive case. There were rows and rows of different sized rocks. Some of them were small, and some of them were massive. In front of each rock had a small little card that had its name and information.

I walked to the center of the room, and took more notice to the carpet. It was split up into four colored segments. The back left of the room had a maroon colored carpet, with a white volcano stitched into the center. The right was dark green, with what looked like three crystals stitched into it. The front right was dark blue, and had a rock with squiggly lines in it as the symbol. Finally, the front left was yellow, and had a rock with smaller shapes inside of it.

It seemed that all of the rocks were sorted by type, and the floor was an indication as to which type you were looking at. It was fun and helpful. In the center of the four carpets, under my feet, was what looked like a rock with crystals in it. It was safe to assume that this was Ralph’s lab.

“Boring, isn’t it?” Elizabeth had been looking at crystals in the green section. She walked over to me, expecting an answer.

“W-Well, I just g-got here…” I liked rocks.

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I guess. The crystals were cool for like five minutes. But everything else in here is just plain boring.”

Max was also in the room. She was over by the volcano rocks, and had a magnifying glass in hand. It seemed like each of the sections had their own tools to inspect the rocks. Ralph would love the place. I had to tell him next time I saw him.

“It’s like a museum.” Max noted before putting the magnifying glass down. “I guess that’s the point though.” 

I nodded, the entire room did feel like a museum. I couldn’t really think of anything else to do with Ralph’s lab.

“Are we done, then?” Elizabeth asked with a whiny tone.

Max frowned. “You didn’t have to come up here.”

I looked at Jazz, who’s eyes just drifted lazily around the room. I think we were both trying to stay out of the conversation.

“Pft. Well, yeah…” Elizabeth paused. “It’s good to see the new places anyway.”

Max nodded. “Exactly. It can’t hurt.”

Jazz and I both stood frozen as they strolled out of the room. If we didn’t move, they wouldn’t notice us!

They probably wanted to talk to us as much as we walked to talk to them, so it worked out. Jazz and I were left in the Geology Lab, so I started to look around.

I didn’t remember seeing any of these rocks before, but it was still nice. There were so many different kinds of each classification. My favorite was the volcano area, which I learned was Igneous rocks. The symbol made sense because they were formed from magma.

It was also really enjoyable to look at all the different crystals. They all had these really amazing bright colors. I almost wish I got a chance to touch them.

The main issue was that Jazz didn’t seem too interested in this room. She drifted around to area’s but didn’t stay long. After only a little while, she began to follow me as I walked.

“Want to check outside?”

Her eyes lit up. “Sure!”

I smiled, and we started to walk towards the stairs. It wasn’t a big deal, I could always come back. In fact, I knew that coming back with Ralph would be a real treat. He could teach me about all the types of rocks, and give me way more insight than the information sheets.

Surprisingly, the new inclusions to the school seemed to be nice. I expected Monokuma to give us a room full of knives, or something equally as dangerous. Instead we got leisure rooms that actually seemed kind of fun.

I slowly became hopeful that the killing game would end there. With a bunch of new rooms to keep us occupied, maybe nobody would want to kill. Maybe it could all be over.

All that was left was the area connected to the school. Jazz and I headed to the first floor, and left through the main door. I checked my Monopad, and noticed that the map had changed slightly. There was a section to the left side of the school that was greyed out. I assumed the new location would probably be there.

Another interesting thing was that the east side of the campus now had a larger looking structure on it. Based on the map, it didn’t look like a building. I couldn’t be sure, but it looked more like a path than anything else.

It made sense to go to the building connected to the school first, but as we left the main doorway, something else caught our attention. The sound wasn’t insanely loud, but I could be heard the second we left the doorway. It came from the east side of the campus, and sounded like an engine roaring.

Jazz’s eyes drifted towards that area. “What is that?”

“I don’t know.” I checked the map again, remembering that there was a building under construction in that area. We assumed it was Wattson’s lab based on the fact it looked like a car garage. “Could it be a car?”

Jazz tilted her head. “What would a car be doing here?”

“Wattson’s lab, maybe?”

She squinted for a second, then nodded. “You think Monokuma would give him a car?”

I shrugged, and we both started walking towards the staircase past the dorms. The other area was my first choice, but this new development was too interesting to pass up. I don’t know why, but the idea of having a car on campus just intrigued me.

When we reached the bottom of the steps, pieces started to come together. Where the under construction building had once been, we had a complete looking garage. On top of that building was a large glowing sign in the shape of a bee. I guess it wasn’t a bee, but actually a yellowjacket.

As we continued closer to the garage, it was easier to see the new road that had now sprung up around it. I checked my Monopad again, and realized that the large outline was a track for Wattson to race on. Slowly, I dragged my finger along the path. On the east side of campus, it moved from the back wall east of the cage, and went almost up to the back wall by the school. Almost a third of the campus was dedicated to the track. 

The sound of Wattson’s engine grew louder, and I could tell that he was nearing our section of the track. Jazz and I stood back far enough away from the road as to not get hit, but watched as a black and yellow car barreled down the straight stretch of asphalt. It zoomed by us at an incredible speed, and looked as though it was going to smash into the wall. Only seconds before it did, the car turned, and began to slide along the track. The speed decreased rapidly, and the vehicle managed to straighten itself out along the wall. After fully turning, the car started to build up speed again and ride the track along the wall.

It was incredible. I never thought I would have seen something like that up close. Before he made his way back around, Jazz and I sprinted across the track towards the garage. Part of the track diverged from the main road, and had a clear path into the garage. The rest of the track surrounded the garage.

When we got closer to the building, we could see a few people standing outside. Violet and Ralph had been standing next to the garage, watching Wattson traverse the track.

“Yo!” Jazz shouted as we got closer.

Both Violet and Ralph spun around, and then waved to us.

“So, there’s a whole track out here.” I motioned the whole thing surrounding us.

Ralph nodded, and Violet pulled down her mask. “We didn’t believe it at first. Wattson was excited, to say the least.” Ralph nodded again to that statement.

That was probably more of an understatement than any of us knew. My mind did move back to his letter. It said that he wasn’t the Ultimate Race-car Driver. How could that be true after what we had seen that day? Not only did Monokuma give him a race track, but he was also able to handle the car extremely well. It didn’t make sense, but I wasn’t about to bring it up.

Wattson sped around the track again, this time not as fast. Instead of going for a maximum speed on the straight part of the road, he slowed down and pulled into the garage. The door to the car didn’t open, and Wattson hopped out of the driver window.

“How did I do?”

“Really good.” Violet put her mask back up.

Wattson bowed, now noticing Jazz and I. “Oh, hey guys! Didn’t know you’d be watching.”

I gave him a smile, hoping that he wasn’t embarrassed. “You were really good! I got a bit worried when you came around this side of the track…”

He chuckled. “Ah, that kind of thing is child’s play for me.” He smirked. “I am the Ultimate Race-car driver…” His voice sort of faded out as he spoke. Wattson turned around and surveyed the track a second. “Isn’t this whole thing amazing though?” He turned back with a wide smile. “A whole track. Just for me!”

I nodded, knowing why he faltered. Wattson truly thought that he was the Ultimate Race-car Driver. It probably hurt a bit to see the track.

“I thought your letter said you  _ weren’t  _ a driver?” Jazz looked off at him cluelessly.

His smile fell, and his mouth just hung open for a second. “Ah, yeah… Forgot about that…” Wattson turned back around and faced the track.

I elbowed Jazz, causing her to spin towards me. She looked at me in surprise, and I gave her a “why would you do that?” look. Her eyes widened, following quickly with her entire face getting red.

Ralph walked forward, and patted Wattson awkwardly. “If the letter was true, then how were you able to pull off such perfect turns?”

Wattson looked back, a hopeful gleam on his eyes.

“Think about it. None of us could have done what you did.” Ralph frowned and looked off towards the school. 

“Monokuma said the letter was real.” Violet’s monotone voice sounded almost harsh. I’m sure she didn’t mean it; she was just telling the truth.

It was weird. Both Ralph and Violet were right. The lab, the outfit, the skills, everything about Wattson showed that he was the Ultimate Race-car Driver. On the other hand, Monokuma himself said that he was not. “I-Is it possible that Monokuma was lying?”

I got the attention of everyone else. They obviously wanted me to explain myself. “I-I w-well… Why should we trust him?”

“He wasn’t lying about the other letters…” Wattson’s smile was fully gone.

I nodded. “Yeah, but that doesn't mean he was telling the truth about yours.”

“Are you saying he only lied about Wattson’s?” Violet stared at me with piercing eyes.

That was a good question. Is it possible that multiple of the letters were actually fake? If we weren’t able to prove them, like Jolly’s, then how would we know? Maybe my letter… I pushed that thought away. “If we can’t prove it false, then Monokuma would be able to do whatever he wants.”

Ralph and Wattson nodded, mulling over the idea in their heads.

“I think the letters are bullshit!” Jazz exclaimed. “Kai’s right. He probably made a bunch of them fake just to mess with us!”

I wondered if Jazz was talking about my letter too.

“Why would Monokuma want to mess with only a handful of us, though?” Violet played with her hands as she spoke.

Ralph, looked off again. “Maybe he didn’t.”

“Oh?” Violet was intrigued, and so was Wattson. Intrigued might have been the wrong word. Maybe hopeful?

Ralph nodded slowly. “It’s not a great answer. But what if it was a loophole?

“If what was a loophole?” Wattson’s voice began to come back to normal.

“What if the letter was true.” Wattsons’s hope vanished. “But it was true in some way that didn’t make sense to us?”

I was confused. There weren't a lot of ways to interpret “you are not the Ultimate Race-car Driver.” It was a pretty plain statement.

“I don’t get it.” Wattson seemed to also be confused.

Ralph looked down at the ground. I think he was trying to think of a good way of explaining it. His head flew up. “Okay, what if you weren’t the Ultimate Race-car Driver, but instead you were the Ultimate Racer?”

“What’s the difference?” Good question, Wattson.

Ralph smiled. “Exactly. If that was your true talent, everything up until now could have happened this way.”

I understood, and Ralph might have just cracked the case wide open. Monokuma might have used smart wording to create chaos. Vague letters would allow him to make us look bad in front of others!

Wattson slowly played with the idea in his head. “So, you’re saying that I’m probably still a Race-car Driver?” He looked at Ralph with pleading eyes.

Ralph nodded. “Whether your talent says so or not, you have the skills.”

Wattson smiled, and dashed forward at Wattson, pulling him into a hug. “Thank you, Ralph! Thank you!”

The second he did this, Ralph froze. I think it was safe to categorize him as the type of person that didn’t like to be touched. But instead of resisting, Ralph just sat in Wattson’s arms like a doll.

“Wattson.” Violet scolded. “I don’t think he likes that.”

Wattson froze, and looked down at Ralph. He quickly let him go. “Sorry! Sorry!” Wattson backed up. “My bad.”

Ralph looked down at the ground, his face red. “It’s alright.”

We all sat there for a second in awkward silence. Finally, Violet broke it, and brought us to a new conversation. “So, Wattson. Why don’t you show Kai and Jazz the garage?”

He nodded, and we entered the inside of the garage. It looked almost exactly like it did when we saw it a few days ago. The inside was very open, with an outline on the floor for the car. There was a second outline next to it.

“Is there a second car?” It seemed weird to make two spots, but not two cars. Maybe it made the room more symmetrical?

Wattson frowned. “Nope. Sadly, Monokuma only included  _ one  _ car.” He turned to the black and yellow car he had been driving before. “It’s a beaut; I won’t lie. But if we had two, then we could all race!”

It was at the moment that I decided one car was good enough. Wattson may have been skilled with driving, but I would surely die in a crash.

“I know! I’ll ask Monokuma if he could get me another one!” He surveyed the four of us. “Who wants to race me first?”

We stared back at him in silence. I think everyone else felt the same way.

“I’ll do it.” Jazz peered at his car. “Looks cool.”

“That’s the spirit!” Wattson slapped her back, causing her to give him a deadly look. He slowly slinked back, whispering “sorry” while moving.

The rest of the garage was filled with tools. At least I thought they were tools. The walls were lined with a sort of table-cabinet combo, that seemed to stretch around the whole area. There were also plenty of extra parts adorned to the walls. There was an entire section just dedicated to tires.

“D-Do you know how to fix a car like this?” I felt awkward to ask, but I wasn’t sure if that was covered under his talent. It seemed like something more suited for an Ultimate Mechanic.

“For the most part.” Wattson scanned the room. “I can replace the tires and do some basic stuff.”

“That won’t be needed, though.” Violet pulled down her mask. “Monokuma was here when we first came in. He said if there was anything wrong with the car he would fix it.”

“Monokuma knows how to fix cars?” I know there was already an insane amount of weird things in this school, but that shocked me.

“I guess so.” Violet put her mask back up.

At that point, I wasn’t sure what Monokuma  _ couldn’t  _ do. He seemed to be this all powerful entity. He knew everything and could do anything. It made living in this school even scarier. My mind floated back to the killing game. Could we really stop him? Could we avoid killing each other? Every day, Monokuma became a larger and larger threat.

We continued to walk around the garage, but there really wasn’t much to see. Everything inside seemed to just be tools to fix or do maintenance on the car. I didn’t know how, and wasn’t really interested in learning how to do that. I think the others felt the same way.

I turned to the other three. “Are you guys staying here?”

They looked between each other, and Wattson spoke. “I think we had enough fun here for awhile. I’d say lunch is in order?”

Violet and Ralph seemed open to the idea, so that would be where they were going. 

“Jazz and I are going to keep exploring the school. We’re almost done with the new places.” I thought about what we had left, and remembered Ralph’s lab. “Oh! Ralph. By the way, the third floor has your lab.”

He smiled, and actually seemed excited. “Really? Is it nice?”

I nodded. “It’s like a rock museum. There are a bunch of displays, and it’s split into a few different sections.”

The smile on his face grew, and he looked at the other two.

Wattson smiled wide. “Do you wanna go after lunch? Do ya?” 

Ralph looked down. “If you guys don’t mind…”

“Sounds fun.” Violet said.

Wattson nodded. “Sounds like a really good idea.”

The group turned and started making their way back to the school. “I guess we’ll see you two later?” Wattson stopped to ask.

I nodded. “Yeah, maybe we’ll see you at Ralph’s lab. It depends on how long everything takes.” I looked to Jazz, who didn’t seem too excited about that. “ We’ll probably get lunch after finishing though.” I shrugged. “Well see you.”

They waved to us, and it was back to just Jazz and I.

“You can go to the lab with them if you want.” Her tone was hollow.

Her face displayed the opposite of what she was saying. Jazz definitely didn’t want to go, and I had a feeling she didn’t want me to go either. “It’s fine! I’ve already seen the lab.”

She was trying to be subtle, but she smiled as I said that. “So, where to?” Her tone had also shot back to normal.

I pulled the map back up, making sure we would be going in the right direction. Looking at the school, there was a new location stuck to the side of it. Based on the map, it almost looked like the last building was supposed to be a part of the school. I looked up and pointed towards the right side of the main building. “The final room seems to be over there.”

Jazz nodded, and we walked over. I wondered if it had been there the whole time, and I just never noticed. Wattson’s lab was under construction before, so maybe it was similar?

When rounding the side of the school, I got my first glimpse of the new building. It was like a dome, or at least the entrance was. The top of it was glass, and then there was a piece that connected it to the school. I really wondered why there wasn’t a passage in the school. 

Apon walking through the entrance, I was hit with a wave of heat. It started me at first, but as we walked inside, I became more comfortable with it. The inside of the room was large, and held an inground pool in the center of the room. It had some recliner chairs surrounding it, and a diving board at the front. There was also a room towards the opposite side of the door. It looked like it had supplies in it.

I turned to Jazz, who had her gaze trained across the room. I followed it, and noticed Jake, Jolly, and Blake standing across the room. They were talking to Monokuma.

“W-We should probably see what they’re talking about.” I looked to Jazz for approval, but she just walked forward with a sigh.

As we approached, we could start to hear their conversation. “So, what happens if someone dies in the water before 10PM?”

Blake raised his eyebrow at Jake. “Why are you asking that?”

“No.” Jolly nodded. “I think it’s a good question.”

They all looked to Monokuma. He tapped his head. “Well, if the person is already dead… How could I punish them?”

“What if I--” Jake stopped. “What if someone pushes someone else into the pool at nighttime? Does that count as a murder, or do they just get executed?”

Blake looked to Jolly, with an annoyed expression.

She sighed. “It’s better to know these things I guess.”

The others were alerted to our presence by Jazz’s loud stomping. It was her way of saying hello.

“Oh, hey Kai!” Jake shouted. He waved to me, and then gave Jazz a smirk. She didn’t say anything, but her stomps only became louder.

“Hey guys.” Blake offered a tired wave, as his eyes drifted back to Jake.

“Is Jake bothering you two?” Jazz asked with a growl.

“Yup!” Jake responded excitedly. 

I peered off behind Monokuma. On the wall there was a sign.

  
  


_ Pool Rules: _

_ The pool is off limits during nighttime.  _

_ You may enter and stay in this room for as long as you want, but swimming from 10PM-7AM will result in punishment. _

  
  


Swimming at night was restricted? Why would that be necessary? I guess it made just as much sense as closing the gym and dining hall. Now Jake’s question was floating around my head as well. Could the pool rules be used for a murder?

“Kai?” Jolly asked.

I shook myself out of thought, and took notice of my surroundings. Jazz was still staring daggers at Jake, but they were no longer going at it. “H-Hi… Sorry, I was reading the sign.”

“As expected!” Monokuma shouted gleefully. “Of course Kai would make sure to read the pool rules. Isn’t that so like him?”

Jolly nodded, but Blake shrugged.

“Monokuma, are you going to answer my question?” Jake’s had stopped looking at Jazz, and his tone returned to normal.

“Yes. Yes.” Monokuma growled. “Throwing someone into the pool would not count as a murder, but a punishment. It is up to the students to ensure they do not break the rules.”

“What?!” Blake responded, immediately eyeing the water behind him. “That makes no sense!”

“Rules are rules!” Monokuma shouted. “If we don’t have rules in this academy, then what do we have?”

There was silence from Blake, as I’m sure he didn’t really know what to say. Even if the rules were insane, it was up to Monokuma to put them in place. We weren’t in a position to argue.

“We’ll just have to stay away from the pool during nighttime.” Jolly looked around the room. “There isn’t much of a reason to be in here anyway. Especially if you’re not going to swim.”

“Also.” Jake pointed to a window on the top wall of the pool room. “Does that go anywhere?”

All of our attention was brought to this section of the wall. It was a few feet off the ground above the sign. It’s not like someone would have been able to get up there, but maybe Jake was curious.

Monokuma nodded. “Yup! On the other side of the wall is the gym.”

Jake smiled. “Interesting.”

“Well, if you have any more questions, you know what to do!” Monokuma strolled behind a pillar, and disappeared. That was something you didn’t get used to.

I turned to Jolly and Blake. “Did you guys find anything else?”

Jolly began typing in her Monopad. “Here, or…?”

I tilted my head. “Anywhere, I guess.” I motioned to Jazz. “We just finished exploring all the new rooms.”

“Really?” Jolly tapped furiously, and then turned around her Monopad to show me the map. “What was in the basement and the third floor. We have only been out here.”

“Uh…” I pointed to the basement. “The basement is a croquet field…”

Jolly nodded. “Is there grass down there?”

I shook my head. “It’s fake stuff.”

“Interesting… Sounds like turf. I’ll have to investigate that. And the third floor?”

I went to point at Ralph's lab, and noticed Paige’s as well. “By the stairs going up to the third floor is Paige’s lab…” I paused. “And the other one is Ralph’s.”

“Ooo.” Jake popped from behind me. “Was Paige’s cool?”

Jazz took a step towards him, and he shot backwards.

“It was locked…” Jolly listened, and took notes in her Monopad. “Monokuma says that if someone dies before their lab is discovered, then it gets closed.

“Only before?” Blake still had his eyes on Jake.

It was a good question. Monokuma made it sound like that, but based on his explanation it would make more sense to close it whenever someone died. If his intention was to really “cultivate talent.”

I shook my head. “I’m not sure, but Monokuma made it sound that way.”

Jolly finished with her Monopad. “So, we have three new labs, a pool, and a croquet field.” She frowned. “Honestly, I expected more ways of killing someone.” 

“Yep!” Jake once again spoke from right behind me. “I’m a bit disappointed.” 

Everyone stared at Jake for a second, probably hoping he would just go away. He definitely got enjoyment from annoying everyone. 

“Well, Blake and I are going to check out those last two rooms. Where are you two headed off to?” 

I looked to Jazz. “Wanna get lunch?” It was about that time, I thought. I wasn’t too sure, but it felt around lunch time.

She nodded.

“We’re gonna go eat, then I’m not sure.”

“Okay.” Jolly looked down at the map. “If you’re still there, we’ll probably see you in a bit.”

“Sounds good.”

We parted ways, with Jazz and I heading towards the dining hall. Jake had snuck away while we were talking, but that was probably for the best

After a few minutes of walking, we entered the dining hall. It was mostly empty, besides Zach, Max, and Elizabeth sitting at the center table.

It was weird to see Zach sitting with them, but I didn’t question it. Jazz pulled me towards our usual table, but Max shouted to us.

“Oh, Kai! Jazz! Come on over!” She waved at us frantically.

Jazz looked away from their table. “Fuck.”

Begrudgingly, we walked over to the center table, and took seats to the left of Zach. To my surprise, he has a big smile on his face. Max and Elizabeth on the other hand looked annoyed.

“Hey guys!” He motioned to Max and Elizabeth. “I was just telling them the rules of croquet. Can you believe they didn’t know them either?”

“That’s crazy.” Jazz said sarcastically.

Zach nodded. “ _ She  _ gets it!”

“ _ So.” _ Max spoke loudly over everyone else. “What were you two up to?”

Their eyes were on me. “J-Just exploring the new areas…”

Max nodded slowly. “Ah, you know, Elizabeth and I never finished exploring. We should really get back to looking around.” She shot out of her chair, and started to pull on Elizabeth’s arm.

Elizabeth frowned. “Didn’t you say t--”

“Let’s go. We definitely want to  _ finish searching _ .” They made eye contact with each other, and then Elizabeth shot up. 

“Oh, yeah! I really wanted to see all the new places.” She almost tripped on the chair as she followed Max.”

Zach turned around as they started leaving. “Okay. You’re still going to play tomorrow though?”

They didn’t look back, but Max said, “if we have time.”

Zach smirked. “That makes five.”

I had a small laugh. “I don’t know if that’s a yes.”

He shrugged. “What else are they gonna do tomorrow?”

I guess he wasn’t wrong. There wasn’t really much to do in this academy anyway. It would be difficult for them to come up with an excuse.

“Who’s the other two?” Jazz asked, possibly already knowing the answer. 

Zach’s smirk bloomed into an even bigger smile. “Well only my two best buds in the whole academy!” He stood in between us, and put his arms around our necks. “I can count on you two, right?”

I knew Jazz didn’t really want to play, but how could I say no? He called me his best bud… “Y-Yeah, we’ll be there.”

“Alright!” He jumped up, pulling on the both of us. “I knew I could count on you two!”

Jazz’s eyes focused on me, and she gave me her death stare. I was going to have to make it up to her…

“The game isn’t too long, is it?”

He thought for a second. “Nah.” Then he tilted his head, “Although… Depending on how many players we have, it could be longer.”

“How long?” Jazz growled.

Zach plopped back down in his chair. “I don’t know, maybe an hour or two?

An hour or two wasn’t actually that bad. Even if the game wasn’t great, what else would we be doing anyway? I wasn’t even sure if I would like it, so why wouldn’t I try?

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted someone leaving the kitchen. Jake came out with a platter filled with food. So he went to the dining hall as well…

“Jake!” Zach shouted. He waved for Jake to come over, making my squirm in my chair.

He delightedly jogged over to the table, and smacked his platter down. “Hello!”

Both Jazz and I were silent. I didn’t want to seem rude, but I really wish Zach hadn’t done that.

Even with us being silent, Zach didn’t seem to notice. “So, we’re putting together a croquet game tomorrow. Trying to get everyone involved. You in?”

Jake took a bite into one of the sandwiches. After he finished chewing, he smiled. “Oh, I’m in!”

“Yes!” Zach looked excitedly at us, and I did my best to give him a smile. “That’s six players so far!”

Jake looked confused. “Only six?”

“Yeah, I’m still not done asking everyone. Most people are still exploring.”

He took another bite. “Oh, well hopefully everyone plays.”

Zach nodded. “That is the hope!”

There wasn’t much to say, and Jazz and I weren’t about to contribute. She stood up from her chair, and tugged on my shirt. “We’re going to go get something from the kitchen.”

Jake frowned. “Don’t be shy, take from what I brought.” He smiled, but at this point his smiles just creeped me out. “There’s plenty for everyone.”

Jazz didn’t even look at the platter before saying, “I don’t like that stuff.” She turned to me. “Let’s go.”

I nodded, and followed her into the kitchen. Jake was acting like nothing happened. Even after that day when I outed him and displayed his letter to the world, he still acted nice. Could it have been an act? It  _ had  _ to be an act. There was no way that Jake was just going to let that go.

Jazz opened the fridge and took out a random sandwich. She passed it to me, and then grabbed herself one. Instead of heading back, she ate it right there. “He’s such an asshole.” She spoke between bites. It was the first time I think I had ever seen someone angrily eat through food.

I finished chewing. “He’s definitely acting weird.”

Jazz scoffed. “No he’s not. He’s been following us around. Trying to get close.” She ripped another piece of the sandwich off. “I  _ hate  _ it.”

She wasn’t wrong. Jake had been creepy since the day with the letter. Maybe he was following us around because he knew we didn’t want him there. Or maybe he was just trying to get a reaction out of us. Either way, I wished he would just go away.

After reading his letter, there was no way I could possibly trust him again. He had been manipulating me, and possibly wanted to even kill me. It was a terrifying thought. The person who I had been the closest with wanted to kill me. He hid things like that so well.

But even after all of that, I wouldn’t want Jake to die. I couldn’t blame him. Monokuma was the only person at fault. He created the killing game, and he pushed people to kill. I had a hard time believing that Jake would kill anyone under different circumstances. 

I still wanted to save everyone, Jake included. I wasn’t sure how I would do it, and we had already lost two people, but I knew that we could stop the game. There had to be a way to stop it. There had to be something that we could do.

“Kai?” Jazz asked, her sandwich completely gone.

I snapped out of my thoughts, and looked up at her. “H-Hi.”

She tilted her head. “You looked out of it.”

My face heated up. “I-I was…”

“What are you thinking about?”

I looked down. “N-Nothing…”

Jazz turned back and grabbed another sandwich from the fridge. She bit into it hard, and slammed the fridge. Her eyes were trained onto me.

“S-Sorry. It’s embarrassing.”

Her look softened. “You can tell me!”

I took a deep breath. “I-I was just thinking about everyone. I w-want to save them.”

Jazz nodded. “What’s so embarrassing about that?”

Maybe it wasn’t embarrassing. But I  _ felt  _ embarrassed. What I was saying just felt weird. “I-I… How could  _ I _ end the killing game?”

She looked at me for a minute, then shrugged. “I don’t know. But you said you were going to do it.” Jazz smiled. “I believe you.”

It was so little, but it was enough to clear my head. The idea that someone else believed I could do it. I owed it to everyone to stop this game. If no one else could, I had to. “T-Thanks…”

Jazz took another bite. “No problem.” Her gaze turned back to the cafeteria, and she frowned. “We should probably go back…”

She was probably right. We had been gone long enough that Jake was probably going to ask us about it. But he was going to do it either way.

We slowly walked back into the dining hall. Surprisingly, Jake was gone. In his place now sat Lena. This shot me awake, and I happily jogged over to the table.

“Hello!” I took the same seat I had before next to Zach, and Lena gave me a nod.

She yawned. “Hi.”

“Was it a good nap?” From what I could tell, she had been asleep the whole day. I don’t know if she was tired, or if it was something else…

Jazz took the seat next to me, and Lena nodded. “I think it was what I needed, y’know?”

Zach nodded quickly. “Absolutely! Nothing makes my day like a nice long nap!” He turned to Jazz and I. “How about you guys?”

I didn’t respond. It was hard to tell them that I was afraid of sleeping; I definitely couldn’t tell them why. That was for sure.

Jazz gave a thumbs up. “Napping is the best. I could really go for one right now…”

“Oh?” Zach leaned forward, practically falling over me. “And what’s stopping you?”

She was silent for a second, and then tilted her head. Technically nothing was stopping her. It’s not like she had anything pressing to do today. Her eyes slowly drifted to me. I think she was asking for approval.

“W-We’re probably going to be here for awhile.” I hope she wasn’t changing her routine just to be around me. I wouldn’t have wanted to inconvenience her. “If you want to go for a nap, it’s fine!”

She looked at the table, seemingly contemplating the offer. After a few more seconds, she slowly rose from the chair. “Alright… I’ll maybe see you guys later?”

I nodded, and the other two did as well.

“Okay. See you later.” She slowly left the room, and for the first time in a few days, I wasn’t around Jazz. It was a weird feeling. Maybe I had just become dependant in my time at the academy. First it was Jake, then Jazz. I wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

“Don’t look too sad, Kai. You’ll see her tomorrow!” Zach had a massive smirk on his face, and even Lena started to giggle.

“I-I…” 

“I-I-I-I” Zach started moving his arms up and down with rigid movements. “Jazz is gone; cannot compute. Shutting down…” He closed his eyes and his head slumped to its side.

My face became very hot, and I looked down to hide it. Maybe being dependant wasn’t a good thing.

“Aww, I’m just kidding.” He put his hand on my shoulder and shook me a bit. “I know you two are close.”

I looked up, and saw Lena’s face. A smile was slowly breaking through, and then she burst out laughing. “I-I’m sorry! Your face is just so red!” 

My face shot back down. 

“Lena!” Zach was hiding his laughter as well. “Let him be. He's embarrassed.”

She stood up from her chair. “Sorry, Kai.” Lena walked towards the kitchen. “I’m gonna grab coffee real quick.”

“Ooo! Grab me one!” Zach shouted.

I could hear Lena quietly groan, “ugh, fine.” 

When she was gone, Zach whispered to me. “Seriously, I know we’re joking about it, but it’s really nice to see you two getting along.”

I uncovered my face, and looked at Zach out of the corner of my eye.

He leaned back in his chair. “I was getting a bit worried about her. She kept sitting around in the corner and leaving rooms when people entered.” He smiled. “I had a feeling she wasn’t a bad person. It’s good to have friends in a situation like this.” Zach turned to me. “Don’t you agree?”

I slowly raised my head up. “Y-Yeah.”

“And she likes you  _ a lot _ .”

My face started to heat up again. Did she really? Like I assumed that she liked me, but he made it sound like it was more than it was. “W-What makes you say that?”

Zach laughed. “You’re serious?” He shook his head. “The way she stands in between you and Jake. The way she eyes anyone who gets near you.” He looked towards the entrance for a second. “She’s like an animal defending her cubs.”

I never thought of it like that, but she was very protective of me. It made me wish I could do more to protect her.

“She also almost went ballistic when Lena grabbed you a few days ago…” Zach’s smile grew very wide. “So there’s that…”

At this point I had just been bright red. I didn’t have a chance for my face to cool down. Zach just kept hitting me over and over. “I-I--”

“Just sayin’!” He leaned back in his chair. “I’m just letting you know what I see. Nothing more.”

I nodded. It seemed that I really wasn’t too good at noticing these things.

Lena came back with three coffees, and lightly placed them on the table. “I got you one as well, Kai. You don’t have to drink it. It’s better than you don’t.”

“W-Why is it better?”

She gave me a devilish smile. “Two for me then!”

I nodded, not wanting a coffee anyway. “All yours.”

“Sweet.” She grabbed the two mugs, and pulled them closer to herself. Then she began almost chugging one of the mugs. After a few seconds she slammed it back on the table. “Woo!”

“Hell yeah!” Zach tried to do the same thing with his cup, but immediately spit it onto the table in front of him. “Ith’s hot!” He managed to get out while pressing his tongue against his arm.

Lena gave him a weird look. “I would hope so…”

We both watched her with confusion as she downed the rest of the first cup, pushed it to the side, and then grabbed the second cup.

When he was done letting his tongue cool down, Zach received a jolt of energy. “Oh, yeah! Tomorrow. Croquet. Basement. You playing?”

Lena finished a sip of her drink. “Yes!” She looked beyond excited. “I do not know how to play though!”

Zach now shared her excitement. “That’s fine, I’m going to teach everyone right before!” His voice started to rise with hers.

“Awesome! I cannot wait!” She responded, getting even louder.

“Me neither!” Now they were both shouting.

I looked at them extremely confused. Then again, giving Zach coffee seemed like a mistake. I guessed it was the same for Lena, and she just drank two. “A-Are you sure you guys should be drinking coffee…?”

Lena nodded rapidly. “It’s good for you!”

I wasn’t so sure about that. Didn’t she have a nap right before? What did she need coffee for.

We continued to chat for a while. Nothing crazy, just hyper small talk as the two of them slowly fell off their coffee high. It might not have been a crazy conversation, but that was what I think I needed. With all the insane things going on, a nice conversation between friends was exactly what we all needed.

  
  


_ Ding Dong Bing Bong _

  
  


Our conversation stopped, as we all waited for the announcement.

  
  


_ Hello students! It is now 10PM _

_ The gym and the dining hall are now closed for the evening! Please have a good night, and don’t let the bedbugs bite! _

  
  


It was a good time to stop, so we parted ways. I realized how exhausted I was. Something about exploring really drained me. Lena and Zach went to the basement. They were still very energized, and Lena wanted a quick lesson on croquet before tomorrow.

I parted from them and left to go to sleep.

It was dark when I exited the school, but not pitch black. It was still a bit light out, although the sun couldn’t be seen.

“Oh, hi, Kai.” I spun around, to see Jake sitting against the wall next to the entrance.

“H-Hi…” Why was he just sitting there? He couldn’t have been waiting for me, could he?

Jake slowly walked up to me. “Wanna go for a walk?”

I was paralyzed as he stood before me.  _ I don’t want to. I don’t want to. I don’t want to.  _ “I-I… Sure.” There was nothing I could do. I was terrified. 

We walked in silence for a few minutes. Slowly, I followed behind Jake as he walked towards the stairs. I only had one question in my head.  _ Am I going to die here? _

Every single second was filled with agony. The fact that he wasn’t talking made the entire experience way more ominous. This silence continued as we made it to the stairs. Still without saying anything, he started to descend them.

“I’m not upset at you.” He looked back at me as we got off the final steps.

_ Huh?  _ Fear and confusion were running through me. What was going on? I didn’t respond; honestly, I didn’t know what to say.

He continued. “I would have done the same thing.” He let out a light laugh. “I even tried to with Wattson…” Jake kept moving forward towards the cage. Shedding no more light on what was going on. 

When we finally entered the cage, he stopped and turned around to me. “I just…” Jake looked down; he looked sad. I don’t think I had seen that from him in our entire time there. “After everything that happened, it’s so weird to say…” He chuckled nervously.

I was still struck silent. Nothing made sense. I needed to just listen.

“Kai, you’re still my friend.” He kicked the floor. “Probably my best friend here.”

It felt like my brain was going to short circuit.

“It’s why I have to tell you…” He trailed off, and turned back around towards the cage. It looked eerie at night. The natural light that usually shined through the holes in the ceiling was gone. The moonlight that replaced it was hardly comforting.

“W-What?”

“Nothing about my letter was wrong.” He kept his eyes on something. “I really did plan on killing someone. I don’t know if it’s fair to say that I’m not anymore…” Jake turned to me, wiping his face before looking up at me. “M-My parents aren’t around anymore.” His eyes drifted downwards with a hollow glaze. “They haven’t been for awhile. The only person left in my family is my sister, Carly.”

Bombshell after bombshell. Jake was opening up to me? Then of all times? And he also had a sister?

His hand shook, and he placed it firmly against his leg. “Sh-She’s not well… She never was.” Jake rubbed his eyes. “W-When Monokuma said we weren’t allowed to leave… I wasn’t sure what I would do.” He frowned. “The second the killing game was introduced, I knew what I had to do…”

So, Jake was going to kill for his sister? It almost made everything make sense. I guess if I knew more about my family, I might have even felt the same.

“Sorry.” Jake looked down. “I know it’s a lot, and you don’t have to believe me… I just had to explain myself.”

He was right. Should I really believe Jake? After all the lies he told me? It felt like an instinct to not believe him, but everything about him was different than before. He wasn’t lying to me with a straight face, he had genuine emotion. It couldn’t be fake.

“I-I believe you.” I did my best to say it in earnest. He came to me and said all of that, even after everything I had done to him. It was a vulnerable moment for Jake.

He smiled, and wiped his face again. “T-Thank you, Kai.” There was a broken laugh. “You’re just too good of a person…”

Maybe he was right… But I had to be a good person for everyone. If I wanted to end the killing game, we all had to be  _ good  _ people. “Jake. I’m going to stop all of this.”

He gave me a surprised look. “The game?”

I nodded. “You’re not going to have to kill anyone. I’m going to end this game, and make sure that you see your sister again.”

Jake covered his mouth, his eyes starting to water. It didn’t look like it, but I could tell he was happy.

“I’m going to need your help to end this.” This was my chance to get Jake back on my side. If I could stop him from killing someone, we had a clear shot at ending the game. This was the best possible scenario.

He wiped his face and nodded. “That’s why I have to keep playing the villain.”

“W-What?” It was not the direction I expected that to go. The villain? What was he talking about?

“M-Max thinks that she’s what’s best for everyone. She thinks she can lead.” He shook his head. “But she has tunnel vision.” He motioned to the school. “You saw with the motive, and you saw during the trail. She gets fixated on small details and goes off the rails.”

I nodded. He was exactly right, but I didn’t get where he was going with it.

“People aren’t motivated by yelling, but they are motivated by the scary killer.” He looked down. “You showing off my letter might have been a blessing…”

I shook my head. “That doesn’t make sense. You just have to tell people what you told me!”

“You're too nice, Kai.” Jake kept his head down. “If you want to end the game, I’m going to have to keep playing the villain. It’s the only way to keep people like Max in check.”

I didn’t want to listen. It made sense, but I didn’t want Jake to do that to himself. “W-What if someone targets y-you?”

He slowly shrugged. “Calculated risk?”

“No!” I walked forward towards him, and placed my arm on his shoulder, shaking him lightly. “It’s not a risk  _ I’m  _ willing to take!”

Jake took a long step backwards. “It’s not your decision.” He looked up and gave me a pained smile. “I believe you, Kai. I think that you can end the killing game.” He frowned. “I’m going to do what I need to make that happen.”

“Y-You don’t have to do this.” 

He gave off a real smile. “I want to. As long as you’re going to end the killing game, I want to.”

As I stared off at Jake, I wondered how everything had changed so quickly. Just a bit before I was scared Jake was going to kill me. Then I had more trust in him than I ever had before. To think that Jake would put his own life on the line to ending the killing game. It was good to have him as an ally.

“Thanks for listening, Kai.” He looked up at the top of the cage. “I guess we go back to being enemies now.” His eyes slowly lowered to me, and then he winked.

I didn’t know what else to say, so I nodded. The entire conversation was amazing. Jake wasn’t a bad person, and he wanted to help!

He turned around and walked away, leaving me alone in the cage. I turned back around, and re-examined the room I was in. Maybe I had been too harsh about this place. It wasn’t as bright at night, but the moonlight giving a gleam to the flowers was peaceful. I probably had to get used to moonlight…

After a minute or two, I slowly walked back to the room. I was elated, and my mind kept reciting the conversion in my head. To think that Jake’s letter had an explanation. It made me think back to what Ralph said. Wattson’s letter probably had an explanation as well!

I finally landed into bed with an incredibly good feeling floating through me. With no other obstacles, we could end the killing game. There was no better feeling than that! I made my way back to my room, and excitedly dropped into bed. After everything, things were starting to look up!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time, no see!
> 
> I have the rest of Chapter 2 all edited, just like last time. It should be coming out shortly.
> 
> Don't have much else to say besides I hope you enjoyed, and stay tuned!


	7. Chapter 2: Every Turn, A wall - Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With new rooms opened, it was time for croquet! A game is what we all needed to keep our mind off the looming threat of new motives.

I regained consciousness, with the cold feeling of brick against my head. My eyes shot open, and I took notice of my surroundings.The air was thick and warm, but the ground was somewhat cool. The sound of fire crackling shocked my senses, and I realized where I was.

The smoldering buildings, the night sky, the moon… I was in a dream. The same one I had been having since I woke up in the academy.

A scream from somewhere in the village caught my attention, and I once again felt the urge to run. My body pushed myself in the other direction. I raced in between the buildings, forcing myself to keep looking ahead.

As I exited the village, I could see the forest in the distance. A person stood on the outside; they stared at me as I slowly started to walk towards them. They must have seen something behind me, because they started to run.

_ It’s behind me… It’s coming… _

I bolted forward, hoping that I might be able to finally make it out. I would never have been able to outrun the monster, but for some reason I was incredibly fast. My body was stronger than before; it was more powerful. I used this strength to push myself forward.

But like before, my body moved on its own. What originally felt like running, started to feel more like chasing. My eyes locked onto the person running, and I dove towards them.

I jumped up out of bed, clutching my chest. My breathing was rough, and I was covered in sweat. Every part of my brain was asking what day it was and when the full moon was.

_ Day eleven…  _ That was when the full moon was. And it was only day eight. I guess that was still a little too close.

Knowing that it would be difficult to go back to sleep, I trudged towards the window. It was crazy how the moon  _ looked _ full. There was only a few days until the full moon, but seeing it almost there was scary.

I needed a plan. No matter what happened, I would have needed to travel to my lab on the eleventh day. No going outside. No night walks…

There was still time, but I needed to keep it on my mind until then. I stared back at my pillow, knowing that I wouldn’t have much trouble with that. My issues seemed more with forgetting than anything else.

Against my better judgement, I slid back into bed. Part of me hoped I would stay awake, but the other part of me knew that I’d be exhausted without sleep.

  
  


_ Ding Dong Bing Bong _

  
  


My eyes slowly pulled awake. I had fallen back asleep, but I don’t remember doing so. Not like it really mattered… I was exhausted. 

  
  


_ Hello students! It is now 7am! All closed off rooms are now unlocked. _

_ I hope you all have a wonderful day!  _

  
  


Monokuma’s words felt ironic. Something about the bear going from cheery to murderous made it aggravating.

I dragged myself out of bed, and immediately went for the mini-fridge. I couldn’t tell if Monokuma was restocking when I wasn’t in the room, or if that was just how full it was. Either way, there was one of those canned coffees. It wasn’t as bad as I remember.

When I left my room, Jazz was standing in her normal spot. My eyes automatically looked for Jake, but he wasn’t around.

“Hi.” She seemed extremely happy. Or maybe it was well rested?

I raised the hand with my coffee in it, and shook it as a sort of wave.

“Tired?”

I nodded silently, wishing that the coffee would work faster.

Jazz frowned as we started making our way down the stairs. She squinted at me. “Are you not getting enough sleep?”

My mind was still sluggish after just waking up, and I wasn’t thinking. “It’s just my--” I stopped talking after I realized what I was about to say. I couldn’t tell Jazz that I was having bad dreams. If I told her, she would want to know what they were, and if she knew, she might figure out my talent!

Jazz tilted her head. “Your what?”

I was frozen. On top of the fact that I didn’t want to lie to her, my brain still wasn’t in the position to come up with anything good. I was stuck.

“Kai?” She asked in a calm voice, before quickly switching into a less calm voice. “ _ Kai?” _

“I have bad dreams…” There was no other choice; I had to.

Her expression softened. “Oh.” We exited the dorms, and for a few seconds Jazz wouldn’t look at me. Her eyes drifted back over. “What kind of bad dreams?”

Once again I was stuck. I couldn’t tell her  _ anything  _ about my nightmares. I had a feeling that any answer would lead to more questions. The last thing I wanted was for her to believe in my letter… Even though it was true.

“Are you okay, Kai?” Her tone reiterated her concern.

I still wasn’t in the most awake state, so I went for the only chance I had for her to drop it. “I-I don’t want to talk about it…”

Jazz looked away again. “O-Oh… Is it bad?”

Alarms were going off in my brain. Any answer I could give would cause Jazz to ask a question. My last chance was to just give vague answers. “Y-Yeah.”

Her eyes were on her shoes. “How bad are we talking?”

She was like a brick wall. Nothing I could possibly throw at her would get her to drop it.

“T-They aren’t good…” I decided to pick it up again before she could say anything. “I-It’s just really hard to talk about… You know?”

Jazz nodded solemnly. “Sorry for pressing too hard.”

“I-It’s okay.”

We were approaching the dining hall, when Jazz stopped me. “Will you promise to tell me?” There was a slight pause. “Whenever you’re ready, obviously!”

I gave her a blank stare. Could I trust Jazz? I had asked myself something similar with Jake. Was there anyone I could actually trust my secret with? My thoughts focused back on the letter, and how Jazz ripped it to pieces.

“Sure…” I looked down. “I’m just not ready.”

Jazz nodded excitedly, shaking me in the process. “That’s fine! I just--” She paused. “A-- You can trust me!”

I nodded. “I  _ do  _ trust you.”

She smiled. “Good.” Jazz looked down at her hands, which still held onto me. She quickly let go, and took a step back. “Whenever you're ready!”

After that awkward exchange, we were about to head off into the dining hall. But before I started walking, I locked eyes on the shop. I was reminded of the shirt and decided to give it a try.

“Uh, Jazz?”

She turned to me. “What?”

“C-Can we stop in the shop real quick?”

She shrugged, and we went inside. It was the same as it usually was, with random Monokuma merchandise scattered around.

“What can I help you two with?” Monokuma said after appearing behind the counter.

I grabbed one of the shirts. It was grey, and had Monokuma posing with his gavel. Above him was pink text that read “Despair!” It was ugly, and I still didn’t feel too good about having Monokuma across my chest.

“Find something you like?” Monokuma asked. He looked at what I brought. “Ooo. Good choice! One of my favorites!”

I thought for a second, remembering that you could technically buy anything. “Uh, actually. Would I be able to buy a shirt without… the design?” 

He stared at me in silence.

“I-I prefer p-plain shirts! Designs aren’t really my thing…”

Monokuma nodded slowly. “I could get you one for… Hmm… Two hundred and one Monocoins!”

My eyes dropped. I only had two hundred… He was doing the same thing he did to Jake.

He tapped his paw on the Monokuma shirt. “If that’s out of your price range, I can give you this one for forty Monocoins.”

I sighed, and nodded. “Sure.” I tried not to sound unenthusiastic, but it was a Monokuma shirt…

“Great!” He spun around. “I’ll just deduct forty coins from your balance, and you’re all set!”

I dragged the shirt off the counter, and then looked for a place to put it on. “I…”

Jazz looked at me. “What?”

“I-I want to put it on…”

She looked confused. “So?”

I looked back and forth. “Well…”

“What?”

“I-I don’t want to do it if you’re w-watching…”

She looked shocked for a second and then she smiled. “Really?”

I nodded.

Jazz continued laughing, and walked to the door. “Okay, I’ll wait outside.” It might have been funny to her, but I really appreciated it.

I turned to Monokuma, who tilted his head. “What?”

My eyes lowered to the floor, and he threw his arms in the air. “Whatever, kid. Not like I want to see it anyway.” He walked off to the side of the counter, and disappeared.

The entire interaction was embarrassing, but probably not as embarrassing as either of them seeing me without my shirt. I quickly changed before Monokuma came back, and went to leave. But a single thought snagged me back. 

“W-Wait. Monokuma?”

He reappeared. “What?! You wanted me to leave, then you wanted me back! Choose one!”

“S-Sorry…” I tugged on the shirt. “H-How do I clean this? It’s not like the clothes in the closet where I have extras…”

He sighed. “If you leave it out, I’ll clean it.” Monokuma shook his head. “It’s what I do anyway.”

“B-But what do I do while you’re cleaning it?”

“What do you want from me? Wear something else, I don’t care!”

I looked back to the Monokuma merchandise, and decided it would be better to buy two. I grabbed the first shirt I could find, and tossed it on the counter. “C-Can I get this as well?”

“Deducted! Now leave me alone, would ya’?” He walked away from the counter, and disappeared again.

I should have looked at the shirt before I bought it. When I finally looked at the design, I saw Monokuma lying down with a sea-shell bra and underwear. I was disgusted, but he was already gone. For the time being, there was nothing else I could do.

“Wow!” Jazz had a sarcastic tone. “Looking good!”

I waved her away. “It was either this or rags.”

She nodded. “Fair.”

We entered the dining hall, but before we could even take our seats, there was a familiar popping noise.

  
  


_ [Jolly] Hello students! It’s Jolly! _

_ [Blake] And Blake! _

_ [Together] And we’re your dose of Morning Coffee! _

  
  


Jazz and I took a seat at our corner table. Zach was already there, and gave us his standard wave.

“Nice shirt.”

My face began to heat up. Before I could respond, Jolly started to speak.

  
  


_ [Jolly] So, Blake. I don’t know if I would say it’s a good thing, but technically we’ve hit a milestone in this academy. Do you know what it is? _

_ [Blake] I’m afraid to ask… _

_ [Jolly] It’s nothing terrible. We’re on the eighth day of our time at the academy. Which means we’ve been here a full week. _

_ [Blake] Oh! _

  
  


I knew it was the eighth day last night, but the idea that we had been here for a week had not set in with me. A full week in this academy. A full week in the killing game… I couldn’t decide if everything had happened so quickly, or if it felt like a long time.

  
  


_ [Blake] How are you celebrating?  _

_ [Jolly] I’m not… _

_ [Blake] Well, I’m sure Monokuma has something special for us! _

_ [Jolly] I really hope not. We don’t have the same definition of gift. _

_ [Blake} It does look like after the murder he’s been around less. A blessing? _

_ [Jolly] I’d say so. I think after… that… we earned some time away from him. _

_ [Blake] How long do you think that will last though? The game isn’t over… _

_ [Jolly] No, it’s not. _

  
  


The both stopped talking. It was something that was in the back of everyone’s mind. Monokuma wasn’t done. Supposedly what happened to Austin was just part one… But I wasn’t going to let the game continue.

  
  


_ [Jolly] I’d hate to give him ideas, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he comes asking for another body soon. _

_ [Blake] Do you think it will be the same as last time? Motive and all? _

_ [Jolly] Sadly, it looks like Monokuma has this all thought through pretty well. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has a stack of motives ready. _

_ [Blake] So, it’s only a matter of time, then? _

_ [Jolly] Yeah… _

  
  


Lena dropped down into the seat next to me, causing me to jump.

“A-- Hi.”

Everyone looked at me, including Lena. “Are you good?”

“I-I… Yeah.” 

She laughed. “Okay.”

  
  


_ [Jolly] I think we all need to have a discussion if we want to avoid what happened last time. _

_ [Blake] Like a plan? _

_ [Jolly] Pretty much. We were already in a bad position, so Monokuma just tipped us over. He barely had to do anything when you think about it. _

_ [Blake] But that was a one time thing. An isolated incident. _

_ [Jolly] Was it? Are you sure nobody else in the school wants to kill? _

_ [Blake] Well… _

_ [Jolly] Take Jake for instance. We were given clear proof that he has, or at least had the intention of killing someone. _

_ [Blake] Hi, Jake! _

  
  


Everyone’s eyes floated towards Jake, who was sitting at the back table. That seemed to be his new spot. He waved at the onlookers, with a big smile on his face. He was  _ really  _ playing the villain.

  
  


_ [Jolly] I’m not suggesting that more people feel the same way, but there’s no way of knowing… There were more letters that we never found. _

_ [Blake] But we shouldn’t be suspicious of anyone just because we never found their letter! _

_ [Jolly] No, of course not. And finding someone’s letter doesn’t exonerate them either. _

_ [Blake] So, where does this leave us? _

  
  


There was a silence.

  
  


_ [Jolly] I don’t know. Monokuma will do whatever he can to keep the game going. In the end it’s up to us whether someone dies. _

_ [Blake] Just no good way of knowing whether someone is planning something… Sadly. _

_ [Jolly] For now, I think we all just need to keep our eyes open. Until Monokuma produces a new motive, we won’t know how to work around it. _

_ [Blake] Do you think we can? _

_ [Jolly] Hopefully. _

  
  


There wasn’t a large amount of confidence in her voice. Not that you could really disagree with her. Technically, if Paige never got her letter, she might not have killed anyone.  _ If we can stop the motives, we can stop the murders. _

My thoughts went back to Max, and how she tried to stop the first motive. I guess disposing of the letters was the right idea after all…

“Seriously, Kai.” Zach leaned forward over the table. “What’s with the shirt?”

I clutched the Monokuma tee, and stared down at it for a second. “I-I don’t like it, but it’s better than what I had…”

Zach nodded. “Makes sense. Makes sense.” His eyes slowly drifted off of me and onto Lena. “Also, I’ve been meaning to ask. How is it wearing a jumpsuit around all the time?”

Lena looked down at herself, as if to check if he meant her. “This? It’s pretty nice.” She tugged at the zipper, making sure to avoid her crosshair pin. “Pretty loose. Don’t have to wear pants. And you barely have to wash it!”

Zach frowned.

“Barely! I said barely!” She waved her hands in front of herself. “I change it out on the weekends!” She smirked. “My flying buddies always said anything more than a week was for rookies.”

Zach squinted.

“What?  _ What? _ ” She sniffed her jumpsuit. “It doesn’t smell. I swear!” Lena stood up, and leaned across the table. “Smell it if you don’t believe me!”

“I’m good.” Zach started to slowly push his chair back. 

She turned to Jazz.

“Don’t you dare.”

Lena finally faced me. “Kai…”

I knew there wasn’t a good way to get out of it, so I just sighed. “Fine.” Her jumpsuit didn’t smell like anything. Maybe it was like a new jacket scent?

“Tell em’, Kai!”

Zach and Jazz stared at me with anticipation. I think. They might not have really cared that much. “I-It was fine…” I looked down. “Besides, if you change it out on the weekend, then wouldn’t you have just changed it?”

“Yup!” She smirked. “Changed it yesterday.”

“Then why would it smell…?” Jazz seemed annoyed.

Lena frowned. “It wouldn’t…”

I looked at the both of them. “I-I think we’re going in circles.”

“Kai’s right!” Zach slammed his hands on the table. “It’s a big day today! No time to be wasting on weak conversation.”

_ What was today?  _ My brain had been so fixated on other things, I had forgotten what he was talking about. I looked over to Jazz for help, but she was looking in the other direction. Lena didn’t respond either.

“Aw, come on guys! You  _ are  _ playing right?”

He jogged my memory. The croquet game! “Yeah!” Jazz’s head snapped towards me, and I was also reminded that she didn’t want to play. I tried to continue the conversation. “H-How many people did you get?”

He leaned back in his chair. “Well, you guys, Max and Elizabeth, Jake…” Zach tilted his head. “I still need to ask Wattson, Ralph, Violet, Morton, and Roselia.” He paused. “And obviously Jolly and Blake!”

I nodded. “I guess we should wait here for them then? They’ll probably be back in a bit to eat.”

“Good idea, Kai!” He nodded. “Always some brain juices flowing up there!” Zach hopped up out of his chair. “For now, I’m going to ask the rest of the people here, before they run away.”

Lena looked up with excitement in her face. “And what do you want us to do?”

He looked confused for a second, but then reset. “Uh, you can stay here, or come ask them with me!”

“Kai and I are going to stay here.” Jazz looked sternly at the group. “We haven’t eaten yet.”

Lena laughed. “Hell, neither have I, but I kinda wanna see some of their faces when we ask.”

Jazz shrugged. I don’t know what Lena thought was going to happen, but I doubt that certain people would react kindly to Zach asking. Roselia already blew up on him yesterday for no reason. Staying behind was obviously the better choice.

“I’m gonna grab breakfast. Do you want anything specific?” Jazz asked as she pushed her chair back.

I shook my head. “Anything’s fine.”

“Cool.”

I was left alone at the table and was surrounded by my own thoughts. It was weird to see the table so empty. Of course, Jolly and Blake were in the broadcasting room. It just felt weird… My eyes drifted around at the chairs, thinking about the person who used to sit in them. I wished Austin was still there.

My mind spaced for a minute, and thought about the past few days. All the things that had happened, and all the things I wished didn’t. I jolted back to reality when Jazz slammed a platter onto the table.

I looked over to her to see what was wrong. She had a pouty face.

“I didn’t want to play.” Jazz mumbled.

“Sorry.” I really did feel bad. She had told me multiple times that she didn’t want to play, but I just couldn’t tell Zach no. Doing that was so difficult for me; I wasn’t sure how people ever did it.

Jazz picked up a pancake from a stack on the patter, and ripped into it. She grumbled again. “It’s fine.”

I kept my eyes away from Jazz in an attempt to sort of hide from her. It was awful that she was upset with me, and I didn’t want to make it worse. Instead, I put my attention onto the platter.

There were the pancakes that Jazz was chewing on, along with some random assorted fruit. To the back was some toast, and some pre-wrapped egg sandwiches. I opted for one of those, as it looked like there was some protein in it.

I was at the point again where I was craving some sort of meat. Reminding myself of this made the hairs on my arms stick up. I quickly brushed them down with my fingers and took small bites into the sandwich. For something that was pre-made, it actually tasted really good. The bread wasn’t soggy, and actually had a bit of crispness to the bottom. I wondered if it was fresh.

“Is a pancake bread?” Jazz’s question pulled my eyes over to her without thinking. I had already forgotten that I wanted to leave her alone. Her eyes were trained on a single pancake she was holding in front of herself instead of eating.

“W-What?” The question was confusing.

Jazz put the pancake down, and began digging through the platter. There was a small section of deli meats near the bread. She picked up some ham and put it in between two pancakes. “If I put ham between two pancakes, does that make it a sandwich? Are pancakes bread?”

I stared off at her, completely thrown for a loop by her question. “I-Is there like a definition for bread?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. I thought it was just things with bread in the name?”

If that was the case, pancakes wouldn’t be bread then? “Wouldn’t that make pancakes a cake?”

Jazz’s eyes widened as though she had an epiphany. “You’re right!” She looked down at her abomination. “So that would make this…” Jazz squinted her eyes. “What is this?”

I shrugged. Did they even have a name for putting something between two cakes?

She smiled. “Maybe I invented a new kind of food.” Jazz seemed pleased by this, and took a bite of the pancake ham thing. I watched to see what her reaction would be. Maybe she really did discover something.

“Needs more ham.” She grabbed two more slices of the deli ham, and stuffed it in between the pancakes. Another bite, and she still didn’t seem pleased.

Footsteps to our right called my attention. Jolly and Blake were back from the morning announcements. They dropped into the seats across from us with sour looks on their faces.

“Oh good.” Jolly grabbed an apple from the center platter and bit into it.

“Hi.” I tried to give them a happy smile and a wave, but they seemed out of it.

Blake raised his arm. “Hey.”

“Y-You guys okay?” I wasn’t sure if they were waiting for me to ask or not. Asking someone how they were was more of Zach’s thing.

There was a sigh from Jolly, followed by another bite of her apple. “I’m fine. I just wish there was more to talk about besides this dumb killing game.” She stared blankly into the fruit. “Nothing’s happening. I almost wish someone would start a fight or something.”

Blake nodded. “If someone doesn’t soon, I’m gonna do something.”

I nodded. It felt like there were a lot of places to go, but there was nothing really going on. Maybe everyone was depressed. “I’ve been a bit bored, but at least we have croquet today!”

Jolly’s eyes shot up from the apple. “What?” My words caught Blake’s attention as well.

“I-I…” Oh, yeah. I had forgotten that they weren’t told about it yet. “Z-Zach was going to ask you when you came here! He’s getting everyone together to play croquet in the basement.”

Blake’s eyes lit up, and a smile drew across his face. “Everyone?!” Him and Jolly looked at each other, as they seemingly had the same idea.

“Y-Yeah… Why?”

Jolly took a large bite into her apple. “Drama!” She smirked at Blake. “You have your camera on you?”

He patted his right side. “Always.”

Drama?  _ Was there really going to be drama?  _ I thought about it for a bit, and realized why they were coming to that conclusion. Every time we all got together, something usually happened. We didn’t mix very well as a group…

Zach strolled back to the table, with Lena trailing right behind. “Oh, hey guys!” He walked around to my right, and stood over Blake and Jolly. “I was meaning to ask you guys…” Zach leaned on the table. “H--”

“We’re in.” Jolly finished her apple and placed it lightly onto the table.

“We are  _ so  _ in.” Blake confirmed.

Zach did a little dance. “Woo! I knew I could count on you guys!” He frowned. “Honestly, I’m surprised that just about everyone wants to play.”

This made Jolly and Blake even more excited.

Zach looked at me. “Like, nobody told me no.”

There was a light kick from my left, and I turned over to Jazz. She was once again giving me the dead eye. I whispered “sorry” to her, but I don’t think that helped.

“I’m sure it’s going to be loads of fun.” Jolly stood up from her chair. “When is it? Are we going now?”

Zach shook his finger. “Almost! I actually told everyone about an hour from now.”

“Lame.” Blake slumped on the table and reached for some toast.

“But!” Zach’s voice filled with energy. “We’re going to go now so we can set everything up!”

Blake groaned loudly, and squirmed in his chair. “Whaaaat?  _ Lame _ …”

“What?” Zach patted him on the back. “Someone’s gotta do it.” He slowly turned to Jazz and I. “I know Kai and Jazz are helping!” He smirked. “They ate while I was asking around. So they should be all set to help!”

Jazz’s eyes widened, and she cursed under her breath. Although, I didn’t mind too much. There couldn’t be that much to set up. From what I saw the course was already put together. “What are we setting up?”

Zach pointed to me. “Incredible question, Kai.” He moved his arm towards the entrance of the dining hall. “Monokuma?”

As if on cue, Monokuma slowly waddled through the entrance. “Hello everyone! It’s great to see you.”

I did not feel the same way, and I assume the others weren’t happy to see him either.

Zach on the other hand, was unfazed. “I want to set up a snack and water table in the basement. Is it cool if I just move stuff from here?”

“Hmm…” Monokuma put his paw up to his mouth. “Move what?”

“I was just going to move this table downstairs, and put water and stuff on it from the kitchen.”

Monokuma shrugged. “I don’t see why not!”

Zach gave him a weak smile. “Could you move the table downstairs?”

“Nope!” Monokuma laughed, and raced out of the room.

“Well. I tried…” He turned to the rest of the group. “So, who wants to help carry a table to the basement?”

Blake buried his face in his arms, while Jolly just staired. I wasn’t sure if I should volunteer. Zach was taller than me, but not by much. I’m sure he couldn’t carry it by himself.

“Oo!” Lena jumped up and down. “I will! I will!” She kept hopping. “I wanna carry it!”

Zach nodded. “Sounds great! Do we have any other volunteers?” His eyes were placed directly onto Jazz, as if asking her to say something. She didn’t and looked him straight in the eyes while she sat there. Both of them sat there for almost a full minute, eyes locked.

Finally, Zach gave up trying to pull it out of her. “Would you help, Jazz?”

“No.”

“ _ Please _ ?” Zach begged. He reached across the table towards her, and she smacked his hand away.

“No.”

He frowned, and pulled on the table as if to lift it. “But it’s so hard to lift, and you look so strong!”

She had a stone cold look on her face. “Why don’t you ask Blake, he looks strong.”

Zach turned to him. “Blake?”

But Blake didn’t answer, and kept his head in his arms.

There was a few seconds of silence, and then Zach turned back to Jazz. “I think he’s asleep.”

“He is  _ not _ .”

“Come  _ on _ .” Zach whined, shaking the table slightly.

Jazz tried a new approach. “Isn’t it rude to ask girls to do work or something?”

Zach laughed. “Actually, I’m a feminst.” He kept a wide smile, and continued to stare at Jazz.

“Fine!” She shot up, and pushed her chair backwards. “Everyone get off,  _ now _ .” She growled, and began lifting the table.

Blake squealed and shot up, earning a sharp stare from Jazz. He raised his arms up, and faked a yawn. “Is it warm in here or someth--” He faked another yawn.

The table creaked, as Jazz shoved it at Blake’s leg. He hopped backwards, and put his hands up. 

“Hah.” Zach put his hands under the table. “Lena, are you ready?”

“Ready!” She shouted. Then she jogged over to the other side of the table.

“Okay.” Zach looked at the other two. “On three. One. Two. Three!” Jazz, Zach, and Lena lifted up the table. In all honesty, it came up rather easily. They didn't seem to be having much trouble with it.

“I’ll make sure you don’t run into anything.” Jolly walked towards the entrance.

Blake and I followed shortly behind them as they moved the table through the hall of the school. For the most part it seemed to be going smoothly. Luckily for them, the basement wasn’t that far from the dining hall.

On top of that, we didn’t run into anyone, which helped. The issues came when they got to the stairs.

“Okay, put it down.” The three of them lightly placed it right in front of the staircase leading into the basement. 

“How are we doing this?” Jazz asked with an annoyed tone. 

“Well…” Zach leaned over the railing, and inspected the stairway. “We can carry it down to the landing and then be  _ very _ careful on the last part?” He didn’t seem very confident.

“Whatever.” Jazz shook her head and got back into position. 

“We’ll be fine!” Lena seemed almost happy to be carrying something. “Just don’t drop it!”

“Thanks.” Jazz grumbled.

Jolly moved down the stairs, keeping her position in front of them. Thankfully, there wasn’t any issue getting the table down to the first landing. It was less steps than the final stairway, but they seemed to have carrying the table down to a science.

“Okay, this is it!” Zach nodded. “Almost done!”

Jolly moved to her normal spot ahead of them.

Blake leaned over the railing and pointed the camera at Jolly. “Are you sure you want to stand there?”

She looked up at him with a confused expression.

I followed Blake’s eyes and realized what he was saying. Her standing on the staircase was a bad idea…

“Yeah, Jolly. For this one you might want to move.” Zach waved for her to move down the stairs. “In the nicest way possible, if we drop this you are going to die.”

Her eyes followed the path the table would fall, and she quickly moved down the steps.

“Everyone ready?” Zach looked at his two helpers.

Jazz nodded, while Lena shouted. “Ready!”

“Ready!” Blake called from next to me with his camera on the table.

Zach shook his head. “Sorry bud, we’re not gonna give you anything.”

Blake shrugged. “Always good to be recording.”

Miraculously, they managed to carry the table down the rest of the steps without issue. It had been an interesting journey, but the table was finally in the basement.

“Good job, everyone!” Zach clapped for his team of workers. “Now we just need to grab some water and snacks from the kitchen and we’ll be all set.”

The second trip was a lot easier, and consisted of each of us lifting a small bag full of items from the kitchen. It was a breeze compared to lifting a table, although I don’t think I had ever lifted a table before.

When we were done, there was a small cornucopia of food and drinks in the basement. It looked nice and was a really good idea. Maybe Zach should have set up more events for everyone, he seemed to enjoy it.

“So, now what?” Jolly asked, looking out on the croquet field.

Zach grabbed a small bag of chips, and ripped it open. “People should be coming down here for the game soon. So, we wait.”

And he was right. Around ten minutes later, steps could be heard from the staircase.

We all looked up, wondering who would be the first to join us. And it was Jake. Naturally, there were mixed reactions from everyone, specifically Jazz.

“Hello!” He shouted, as he hopped down multiple steps at a time.

“Hi.” After I said it, I knew that my tone was a bit too enthusiastic. Jazz took a large step forward, and positioned herself in front of me.

Jake smiled. “Jazz, always a treat.” 

She didn’t respond. Her gaze was sharper than ever.

As they stared at each other, Zach ran forward. “Jake!” He slid in front of Jazz, walking up to Jake without issue. “Fantastic that you could make it!”

Jake’s eyes pulled off of Jazz and moved to Zach. “Oh, I wouldn’t miss this for the world. Thanks for getting everyone together for this!”

“No problem! I really wanted to get a fun game going.” Zach motioned to the field. “We might as well make use of it if Monkuma is going to provide.”

Jake nodded. “I absolutely agree.”

Then, Zach directed Jake towards the table. “We brought down drinks and snacks just in case. Feel free to have some while you wait.”

They walked over to the table, and Jake rummaged through the snacks before taking a bag. Jazz turned to me, with an angry look on her face. “Why don’t we get our stuff?” 

I knew better than to fight her, and just nodded.

We made out way over to the area with the equipment. I slowly went down the list, remembering that I was somewhere in the middle. To be exact, I was in between Lena and Blake. Jazz was all the way at the end. The order didn’t make much sense to me, but I guessed that it was just random.

Blake picked up the ball next to mine and inspected it. “Camera would be me.” He tilted his head. “Or at least I don’t think it could be anyone else.”

“It’s yours.” Jolly, who’s equipment was closer to the left side, stepped in. “It’s alphabetical. Last name order.”

He looked at her. “Oh, yeah. Kai, what’s your last name again?”

“O-Okami.”

Blake nodded. “Orecchio, Okami. Makes sense.”

I nodded. I guess it wasn’t random after all. It also explained why Jazz was all the way at the end.

The four of us took our equipment from the wall. I didn’t know what we were supposed to do with it. Everyone else just stood there as well.

“D-Do you guys know where to go?” I looked to Jolly. If anyone knew, it was her.

She shook her head. “If I had the ability, I would have read up the rules beforehand. We’re going to have to wait for Zach.”

Again, there were footsteps at the top of the stairs. From what I could hear, it sounded like multiple. I wasn’t sure, though. We all watched the stairs, and down came Wattson, Violet, and Ralph.

They first looked left, to us. Wattson waved, and after a second, Ralph did the same. Violet gave us a nod. The group then looked right, and Zach noticed them.

“Guys!” He shouted with his arms in the air and walked forward to them. “Glad you could make it.”

This startled Ralph and Violet, who slinked backwards behind Wattson.

“This  _ is _ where the party is?” Wattson asked with a smile.

Zach gave him a high five. “You know it!” 

I scanned the room, seeing a larger group here. It was hard to believe, but we almost had everyone here already. The only people we were missing were Morton, Max, Elizabeth, and Roselia. That didn't really surprise me, as I didn't expect any of them to show up.

After he was done saying hello to that group, Zach came over to us. “So, it’s just about time. I want to give it another ten minutes before we start.” He glanced towards the stairs. “People could be taking their time.”

We nodded, and he walked back to the table.

It was hard to tell him that they weren't coming, but at least he seemed happy with the amount of people who did.

After around ten more minutes, he walked back over to us. “Alright, everyone! Over here you’ll find a mallet and ball with your symbol on it. Come over and get your things.” He walked almost all the way to the left, and grabbed the green ball with the clover on it. “After you’re done, come meet me on this side of the field.” He pointed to the right of the staircase, and walked over with his equipment.

I turned to Jazz. “Ready?”

She gave me a sour look.

“I-It will be a quick game!” I wasn’t really sure of that, but I think Zach said it yesterday. 

Jazz looked sadly at the grown. “I doubt it.”

Jolly, Blake, Jazz, and I followed Zach over to the back of the field. As we walked, I started to take better notice of the field. It was symmetrical, which confused me. I wasn’t sure if there was supposed to be an order or not. I quickly gave up, understanding that I would need to know the rules before I could imagine playing.

It took everyone else a minute or two to collect their things. Finally, we were all standing against the wall, and Zach was facing us with the mallet over his shoulder.

“Listen up, punks!” Zach laughed and stuck his tongue out. “Just kidding.” He stepped to the side, and used his mallet to gesture at the field behind him. “I’m going to quickly and easily go over the rules of croquet. In just a few minutes, you’ll all be masters!”

Zach placed his ball in front of the first stick. “The goal of croquet is to pass you ball through all fourteen wickets.” He tapped one of the arches with his mallet. “This is a wicket.”

Jake raised his hand.

“Yes, Jake?” 

“There’s only nine wickets, sir.”

Zach nodded. “Very good Jake.” He motioned for everyone to follow him. “You move through the course like this.” Zach walked backwards, moving forward, then to the right, then to the middle, then to the right again. “You do this until you reach the stake on the other side.” Zach stopped, and then pointed to the side of the course closest to the stairs. “Then you do the entire course in reverse until you make it to the starting point.”

“Oh!” Jake nodded. “So you use five wickets twice, which makes fourteen!”

Zach smirked and shook his head. “Jake, you have some promise. You may even surpass me one day.”

“Really?” Jake exclaimed.

“You have what it takes; I can tell.”

“Wo--”

Jazz growled. “Can we continue with the rules?”

Zach nodded. “So the goal is to go through all fourteen wickets in the right order…” He walked forward but then spun around. “But there’s  _ more _ !” He dropped his ball in front of the nearest wicket, and tapped it through. “Passing through a wicket gives you an extra shot.” He looked up to Jake. “Jake, can I see your ball?”

Jake nodded and tossed it to Zach.

After placing Jake’s ball in front of his mallet, he smacked it into his own. “Hitting an opponent's ball gives you  _ two _ free shots!” Zach looked up at us, and smiled.

There was an awkward silence, as everyone in the room was staring at him.

“ _ And? _ ” Jazz asked, her tone still filled with annoyance. 

Zach tilted his head. “That’s it.”

“That’s it?” Jolly called from the back of the group.

“That’s it.” Zach said it again.

Lena shouted even louder than Jolly. “That  _ can’t  _ be it!”

I believed Zach, but it really didn’t seem like a lot of rules. With as complex of a field set up as it was, I expected more.

Zach smirked. “Oh, but it is it.”

“Well, that’s just not the case!” The all familiar shrill voice of Monokuma erupted from the staircase. Everyone spun around, including Zach. To our shock, Monokuma’s throne from the trial room was sitting right next to the snack table. And he wouldn’t even help us bring the table down…

“Oh!” Jake shouted, gleefully. “Monokuma’s here!”

Monokuma was munching through a random bag of chips at the time. “Yes, I am! It seems like Mister Costar is skipping a few rules!”

Zach shrugged. “Yeah but the other stuff is minor.” He winked at Monokuma. “I don’t want to bog down the game with a ton of boring rules no one cares about.”

Monokuma shrugged. “Fine.”

“Cool!” Zach eyed the throne. “I guess you’re going to watch?”

Monokuma nodded. “Nothing pleases your headmaster more than students participating in team building activities!”

Jolly frowned. “It’s a solo game, though.”

Monokuma’s red eye glowed. “The only thing more interesting than team building activities, is team  _ destroying _ activities!” 

“Great.” Jolly mumbled.

“Ah, don’t worry about him!” Zach grabbed everyone’s attention again. “He’s probably watching us all day anyway! It’s just going to be a fun game.”

The part about Monokuma watching us was really concerning. Did he actually watch us all the time? It made sense with the fact that he always seemed to pop up out of nowhere.

“What are the other rules?” Jolly asked, looking confused.

Zach shook his head. “Don’t worry about those! It’s small stuff we aren’t going to need.”

Jolly frowned. “But--”

“If it comes up I’ll tell you. It’s the first game after all.”

“So.” Jazz cleared her throat, and started walking towards the start. “Balls through the arches.”

“Yup.” Zach nodded.

“One through an arch gives you a shot.” Zach nodded as she spoke. “Hitting another ball gives you two.”

“Yes!”

“Can we just get started already?”

Zach jumped for joy. “Yes!”

Blake jogged over to Monokuma, and passed him his camera. Monokuma nodded, and then the second Blake walked away, he put the camera on the table next to him. He did make sure it was facing the field, but I’m sure that wasn’t what Blake asked.

Everyone lined up like before, and looked at Zach. 

“Who goes first?” Jake asked.

Zach tapped his mallet onto the stake, which actually had our symbols on it. But before he could say anything there was a shout from the top of the stairs.

“You’d  _ dare _ start without  _ me? _ ” Roselia slowly made her way down the steps with a wide smirk on her face.

There was an uncomfortable silence as she walked down the steps. At least I thought it was uncomfortable. Zach did not.

“Nah, you’re just late. That’s okay, though. We haven’t started yet.” I couldn’t tell if he was messing with her or being genuine.

Not that it mattered to Roselia. Her smirk shifted into her natural sneer. “I am not late. In fact, I’m never late.” She walked off the final step and turned to Monokuma, giving him a look of disgust. 

Zach shrugged and waited for Roselia to get her equipment. After that, Roselia faced him. “I see you invited everyone to our little contest?”

“Nah. They’re playing too!”

She took a second to glance at the rest of us. “Why?”

“Because I invited them…” Zach tilted his head.

Roselia scoffed, and tossed her ball onto the ground in front of the stick. “Fine. We’ll see if you  _ really  _ know how to play this game.”

There was the piercing sound of a whistle being blown, and our attention was called over to Monokuma. He was now wearing a black and white striped outfit, and had a comically large whistle around his neck. “Miss Howell, please do not violate the play order!”

She froze, her eyes were stuck onto Monokuma.

Zach leaned forward. “Yeah, was gonna tell you. It’s alphabetical, so Ralph would actually be first.”

After a few seconds, Roselia started to move again. “Fine.” She stepped back towards the wall, but put herself far away from everyone else.

“I…” Ralph looked around at everyone else. “I really shouldn’t go first.”

Zach stepped up to him, and guided him to the stick. “Don’t worry about it! It’s just a friendly game.” Zach helped set Ralph up and directed him to the first wicket. In all honesty, the first wicket wasn’t that far from the stake. On top of that, there was another wicket right behind it. It couldn’t be that hard.

Ralph held the mallet in his hands and stared down at the ball. I could understand not wanting to go first. I was just happy that I didn’t have to.

“No pressure!” Zach put his hands up, and took a few steps back. “It’s your first time playing. The goal is to have fun!”

Ralph nodded, and tried to center himself out. His arms were shaking slightly, but he managed to hit the ball with his mallet. It wasn’t a very hard swing, so the ball didn’t make it to the first wicket. It actually moved a little to the left. We all looked around. Was that supposed to be good? I don’t know if anyone was sure.

“Pff--” Roselia started but was quickly cut off by Zach.

“Nice!” He walked forward and examined the ball. “You’re like right at the first wicket! Next time you’re up it’s going to be an easy free shot!”

Ralph nodded, and a big smile started to pull across his face. Zach was handling the game really well. His positive words made it sound like any shot was a good shot.

“Okay!” Zach clapped his hands, and looked down at the stake. “Elizabeth would be next, but she is not here.” He turned to the rest of us. “Looks like I’m up!”

It was nice to see Zach go next. Ralph’s shot might have been good, but watching Zach hit the ball would show the rest of us what we needed to do. There had to be more to the game than just hitting it through the arches.

Zach dropped his ball in front of the stake. His arm swung back slightly, and then like a pendulum moved back. His ball moved quickly through the wicket, but stopped just in front of the second one.

“N-Nice shot, Zach.” Ralph said.

Zach bowed. “It was just good luck.” He walked over to the new location his ball was at. “So, like I explained before, I get a free shot because I passed through the wicket.” He turned back to his ball, and sunk it through the second wicket. “And same with the second wicket.” Finally, he hit it again, and moved to the right side of the third wicket, but not exactly at the wall.

I wondered if he could have hit that third wicket. He seemed to be somewhat experienced in the game. I guess it wasn’t really worth wondering about. He probably didn’t want to destroy us too bad.

He made his way back to the group, and examined the stake. “So, who’s next? Wattson!”

Wattson stepped forward, and placed his ball onto the turf. He sat there for a minute, just staring at something. “So…” He looked down as he talked. “I could get two free shots if I hit Ralph’s ball, right…?”

“Yes, but when you pass through a wicket, you are reset to  _ one _ free shot. So, if you’ll have one free shot when you pass through the wicket, whether you hit Ralph's ball or not.”

Wattson nodded, and aimed for a shot similar to what Zach did. I think he was trying to have it just barely pass the first wicket. Instead, he didn’t actually make it past the arch. He looked disappointed, but Zach was quick to offer kind words.

“Mmm. Trying to make it hard for everyone else to get through the first wicket! Smart.”

Wattson nodded. “Hah. Can’t make it too easy, right?”

The game continued, with Wattson’s ball actually causing some issues. Violet was up next, but no longer had a clear shot through the first wicket. She tried to push her way through, but it only pushed Wattson’s ball closer to the wicket. She used her second shot to get a bit closer, and her third shot still didn’t make it through.

Jake went after her, and also aimed for Wattson’s ball. He managed to hit it at just the right angle, causing Wattson’s ball to fly off to the side, and for his to be positioned right in front of the wicket. He used his next two shots to put his ball in between the second and third wickets.

With the way clear, Jolly easily knocked the ball through the first two wickets. By the time she was finished, she was about in between Jake and Zach.

Roselia strolled past everyone, as it was her turn. She lined up the ball, and just like Zach, easily sunk it through the first wicket. Her second shot was lined up perfectly and went through the second wicket, and her third shot almost made the third. It was positioned right to the left of it. Roselia tried to look happy, but it was obvious she was trying to get the third wicket as well.

Lena popped up and swung the mallet  _ way  _ too hard. The ball soared  _ over _ the first two wickets, and ended up in front of the fourth wicket in the middle of the field. She looked back at everyone. “Whoops…”

Zach laughed. “Don’t worry. How about next time you’re up we just let you start from the beginning?”

“What?” Roselia jumped forward. “That’s against the rules.”

“Yeah!” Monokuma shouted from across the room.

Zach shrugged. “So? It’s her first time playing. Let her just start over.”

“Fine.” Roselia stepped closer to Zach. “She can have as many do-overs as she wants. Not like it matters anyway.” She scoffed and walked back to her place at the edge of the line.

Zach gave Lena a thumbs up, and she returned to the line.

It was my turn, a moment I had been dreading since the start of the game. Zach was being really supportive, but I didn’t want to embarrass myself in front of everyone. I really wanted to have a great shot like everyone else…

I dropped my ball in front of the stake, and stared forward. No matter what I did, I felt like my mallet wasn’t straight. I kept making adjustments to fix this, but even they looked wrong. After a minute of trying different angles, I just decided to hit it. Lena’s swing must have thrown me off, because the ball  _ barely  _ made it near the wicket. Even Ralph had gotten closer than me. I messed up.

“Wow.” Zach patted my back as I walked back to the time. “That’s gonna be a killer shot next round. Nice set up!”

I knew he was offering encouraging words to everyone, but it really did help. I guess my first shot would make hitting the wicket next time much easier… It was a nice way of thinking.

Blake was up next, and looked off to Monokuma before going. He titled his mallet upwards, and knocked his ball over mine! Because it went into the air, it just barely made it through the wicket. I thought it was a really cool way of doing things.

Finally, we reached the end of the round. Jazz was the final person before we started back from the top. She still looked absolutely miserable, but set her ball up anyway. And it looked like she put all of that negative energy into the mallet, because she launched the ball forward. It didn’t go off the ground, but it shot like a laser through the first two wickets. She also knocked my ball out of the way, but I don’t think that was her intention. 

She used her free shot to position her ball closer to the third wicket, as she had overshot it by a bit.

“Sorry.” Jazz whispered to me as he walked back. “I didn’t mean to hit your ball…”

I believed her. It wasn’t like I was worried about winning anyway. “It’s okay! I had a bad shot!”

She shrugged, and looked down at her feet.

From there the game really started to separate the good players from the bad. Ralph made it through the first and second wicket, but his ball was positioned far away from the third. Zach had another great shot, and managed to go through both the third  _ and  _ the fourth wicket. 

Wattson shot again, but because he was knocked so far away by Jake last round, he still wasn’t able to pass the first wicket. Violet made it through the first two wickets, but hit her ball a little too hard. It ended up hitting the wall, which wasn’t a bad place to be, but it wasn’t intentional. 

Instead of going for the third wicket, Jake turned himself in the other direction. He smacked his ball into Jazz’s, knocking it in between the two wickets on the stair side of the field.

“What the hell?” She shouted, but Jake didn’t look. “That can’t be allowed?”

I think Zach wanted to side with Jazz, but technically Jake was allowed to do it. “Sorry, it is allowed…”

“Whatever.” Jazz moved back against the wall, and her already sour expression worsened. 

Jake’s next two shots put him right next to the third wicket again. Jolly followed up with an easy shot through the third arch, and set up another quick shot through the forth for her next turn.

Roselia’s ball went cleanly through the third wicket, but wasn’t able to make it through the fourth. Again, she seemed frustrated, but did her best to hide it.

Lena’s redo turn went a lot better than last time, and she managed to make her way through the first two wickets.

The second round had gone much quicker, and it was once again my turn. I wasn’t upset, but Jazz’s shot knocked my ball decently far away. I had to use my turn just to reposition it towards the center.

Blake lined up again, knocking Jake’s ball closer to the wall side. After that he made it through the third wicket, and was right next to Jolly.

To end off the round, Jazz shot the ball with extreme force, and managed to land it in front of the third wicket. It was a clear shot for her to make it through.

The third round was a lot of the same. Ralph, Wattson, Violet, Jolly, Lena, and Blake slowly made their way forward. At that point, it was getting difficult to pay attention to them. Zach was so far ahead, and was able to make it through the fifth wicket. His shot was almost perfect, as he tried to hit the final two wickets on the other side of the field.

Roselia, on the other hand, caught up. She breezed through the fourth wicket, made a decently difficult shot through the fifth wicket, and then hit a miraculous shot through the sixth. The only thing that stopped her was her last shot. It was at such an angle, that she had to use her last hit just to recover. 

The problem came when it was Jake’s turn. Once again, instead of going for the next wicket, he used his shot to launch Jazz’s ball to the other side of the field. Her ball went so far that it almost reached the stairs.

“Come on!” Jazz kicked the turf. “I can’t even play when he’s like this!”

Jake smirked at her. “Sorry, I felt like it was better to go for two shots.” He winked at her.

“Shut your fucking mouth! You’re just being an asshole.”

Jake shook his head, and tried to give off a sad look. “No! You were just the closest ball!”

“Bullshit.” Jazz grumbled. “I swear to fucking god if he does it again.”

The game continued, and Jake finally moved through the third wicket.

My turn wasn’t even worth talking about…

The next round was much of the same. At this point, we really were just watching Zach and Roselia play. Zach was able to pull back up, and was the first person to reach the stake. Because the back end of the course was technically six wickets, Zach passed through the tenth wicket before I even made it to the second.

Roselia easily caught up to him, and it was a tie game for the eleventh wicket.

But once again, Jake aimed his ball backwards, and knocked Jazz’s all the way towards the start of the field. He looked directly at Jazz, and winked again.

She didn’t even blink, and instead shouted. “ _ Fuck you! _ ” Jazz took a large step forward, and threw her mallet at Jake.

His eyes widened, and he dropped to the floor. It barely missed his head, and soared over him, smashing against the wall. The mallet shattered in half, with wood pieces shooting up into the air.

Monokuma jumped out of his throne, and his whistle started blaring. “Foul! Foul! Foul!” He pulled a red card out from behind his back and rushed over to Jazz. Monokuma forced the card into her hand. “Jazz Veranda has received a red card, and will be ejected from the game!”

Jazz crumpled the card, and let it slowly drop to the ground. “Whatever. Fuck this!” She stormed off up the stairs, and everyone else was left in silence.

I didn’t know what to say, but I didn’t want her to leave like that. It wasn’t like I was really playing at that point anyway, so I chased her out of the basement and up the stairs.

She was still stomping down the main hall when I caught up to her.

“Jazz!”

She stopped and spun around to me. Jazz was grinding her teeth; the sound was horrible. “He’s such a piece of shit!” She turned and swung at the air. “Such a fucking dickhead!”

“I-I…” I couldn’t tell her the truth. Jake was just acting that way to fool everyone. He went too far, but her reaction was also insane. “H-He’s not that bad…”

Her head snapped towards me, and her eyes narrowed. “What are you even saying? He tried to  _ kill  _ you!”

I messed up. I shouldn’t have even said anything. Or maybe that was wrong. I wanted to tell Jazz everything that Jake told me. She could be trusted. I looked up at her seething expression. She didn’t trust Jake though. Even if I told her what he told me, she probably wouldn’t believe me. “I-I…”

“Forget it!” She screeched, and turned towards the double doors leading outside. I didn’t know what to say. I couldn’t tell her about Jake, and I couldn’t justify his actions. All I could do was watch as she walked off towards the dorms.

My body felt weak, and I felt like I wanted to cry. Jazz hated me. Hiding things from her made her hate me.... I didn't know what to do.

There were footsteps behind me. I didn’t want to talk to anyone, but I glanced over to see who it was. Jake walked forward with a concerned look on his face.  _ Jake. Why did you have to do that? Why? _

“Hey.” His tone was low, and his eyes kept moving off me and onto the floor.

My body acted on it’s own. “Why?” I was almost shouting. Immediately, I tried to reel myself in. I wasn’t usually like that.

“Sorry…” His gaze was now firmly placed onto the ground. “I know it must be hard, but I had to do that.”

“No, you didn’t!” My voice was stuck at a shout. I tried to suppress it, but it wasn’t working.

Jake shook his head, his eyes drifted towards the door Jazz left through. “I’m trying to find out who we need to look out for.”

_ What?  _ My mind started to race. I wanted to know what he meant. What could that possibly mean?

He continued. “You never know who’s dangerous until something bad happens…” Jake shook his head. “But we can’t allow that if we want to end the game.”

_ But why Jazz? _

“You saw the way she reacted.” He grabbed the top of his head with his hand. “It took almost nothing for her to go after me.” His body shook lightly. “If that had hit me…”

I saw what he was saying. Jazz could have seriously hurt him. But she wasn’t normally like that! I tried to tell myself that, but she talked about killing him a lot…

“I-I…” Jake paused. “I was just trying to see if she was a violent person…” He shook his head. “Kai, I don’t think you should be around her anymore.”

I was shocked, and a cold chill started to move throughout my body. Not be around Jazz? But she’s my friend. I’m closer with her than anyone else…

He looked down. His concerned expression was still painted across his face. “She’s dangerous. I’m worried she might try to do something to you.”

“Jazz isn’t like that!” I screamed. I think I was saying it more for myself than Jake. “She would never hurt me!”

Jake’s expression grew angry. “Oh, so it’s all about you then?” He took a step closer to me, his presence growing larger. “What about everyone else? I thought we were trying to  _ save _ people?”

“I-I” Jake was right. What was I saying? If Jazz killed Jake the game would still go on. But I had to save her too. I had to… “I-I have to save Jazz.”

He stopped, and turned towards the wall. There wasn’t a response.

But I didn’t need one. I wasn’t going to give up on Jazz. I wasn’t going to give up on anyone. We were all going to get out of the school. If I had to fight everyone in there, I was going to.

There was nothing more to say, so I walked to the cafeteria. There wasn’t much point in going back to the croquet field. I honestly just wanted to be alone. It was the first time since I had been at the school that I really wanted that. With everything going on, it just seemed like the right thing.

Sadly, the dining hall wasn’t empty. Morton sat in the back of the room eating from a tray of food. That wasn’t much of a problem, because I just took a seat at the middle table. It was far enough away, and Morton wasn’t very friendly anyway.

I stared at the corner, thinking about everything that had happened. I didn’t want to believe it, but it seemed like Jazz and Jake would never be able to get along. It didn’t help that Jake always tried to get on her nerves. There had to be a better way of doing things than playing the villain.

The chair next to me moved, but I just didn’t have it in me to react. Morton plopped into the seat, and leaned onto the table.

“What’s going on, Kai?”

I guess I was wrong to think he would stay to his side of the room.

He continued. “Sorry if I’m intruding. You just seem a bit down.”

I wasn’t about to get out of this, so I decided to talk to him. It was a long shot, but maybe he had some insight. “D-Do you think people can change?”

He leaned back, looking surprised. “Real hard hitting questions on your mind?”

I nodded.

“Well.” He frowned, thinking for a second. “People can change, but they’ll only do it if they need to.”

“Need to?”

He nodded, a small smile coming to him. “We’re all pretty basic. There are things that we want, and we’ll do almost anything to get those things.” I nodded, wondering if he’d actually have anything useful to say. “If someone thinks they need to change who they are to get what they want, they’ll do it.”

What he was saying made some sense, but I don’t think it was that simple.

“What’s going on, anyway?” He leaned back and looked towards the exit. “Weren’t you guys playing something downstairs?”

“Jazz and Jake had a fight.” Morton didn’t seem like a bad guy, but I just didn’t trust him for some reason. Of course I still wanted to save him, but he always liked to ask questions. Something about that just rubbed me the wrong way.

“Jeez. Those two really don’t like each other, huh?”

I nodded. That was a pretty open secret based on how they interacted. But I didn’t really want to talk about it anymore. “W-Why didn’t you play?”

Morton shifted in his head. “I’m not really a sports kind of guy.” He chuckled.

“Oh.” Neither was I, but I was just looking for something to do. “Have you been here the whole time?”

He shook his head. “No. I was just doing another look around the school.” He tilted his head. “I got a decent look yesterday, but after the whole letter thing, I was wondering if the school had more secrets than it originally revealed.” 

That was a good question. “Did it?”

He shrugged. “Most of the buildings seem to be exactly what they’re supposed to be. It didn't hurt to look though.”

“I haven’t found anything either.”

“I assumed that people would notice things in their own labs. Mine seems to just be an average room with equipment. Nothing too crazy in there.”

I hadn’t spent too much time in his lab. But I did get that general idea. It looked more like a lounge than a lab. “Are all the watches and things like that actually useful?”

“Ehh.” He shrugged. “Sort of. Moving the watch in front of someone gives them something to focus on. That makes it a bit easier to get everything else going.”

“So anything to focus on would work?”

Morton thought for a second, and then nodded. “Pretty much. I think the idea is that the pendulum motion is distracting.”

It was weird to be talking to a hypnotist. It was also hard to believe that hypnosis was something that existed. The idea seemed more like fantasy than anything else. But that was stupid coming from the werewolf.

“I’d love to show you sometime!” He gave me a smile.

“The watches?”

“No, no! Hypnosis.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. “I-I don’t know… Being hypnotized doesn’t sound that fun.”

He waved his hands in front of himself. “It’s really more of a party trick than anything else. Or used for therapy.”

“Therapy? Really?”

Morton nodded. “Yeah, it’s the biggest use of hypnosis. It can help with anxiety or quitting smoking.”

Not only did hypnosis exist, but people were using it to quit smoking? It all seemed bizarre. 

He laughed. “Seriously. We use a relaxed state of hypnosis to help people calm down and take suggestions. Hypnosis itself is very relaxing.”

“I guess that makes sense.”

“Yep! It’s great.” He leaned forward. “I would be more interested in trying to find out what your talent is, though.”

My brain started to freak out, and the hairs on my arm started to stick up. “Oh, r-really? Could you a-actually do that?” My voice was shaky. I definitely did  _ not  _ want to do hypnosis then.

He nodded excitedly. “Of course! If knowledge of your talent was somewhere in your brain, I could help you unlock it!” Morton looked to me for an answer. He really wanted me to say yes.

“S-Sorry, I just don’t think I would be comfortable doing that…”

He moved back. “I understand completely. It’s always on the table if you want to find your talent though. Just an idea.”

After that Morton backed off and didn’t mention hypnosis again. I guess he was just excited about the idea of finding my talent. Most people were.

From there, we just talked about the school. Sharing ideas about the certain rooms, and what we thought of Monokuma. It was a nice talk, and gave me a better appreciation for Morton as a person. I really needed to talk to everyone.

  
  


~~~

  
  


While we were talking, there were voices coming from down the hall. Morton seemed interested, but I had a feeling it was some of the people returning from croquet. Neither of us moved from our seats and we just waited.

“Almost there!” Zach groaned from just outside.

“Watch the corner!” Ralph’s voice echoed as well.

The first thing I saw was Wattson’s back. As he slowly moved backwards, I saw that he, Lena, and Zach were carrying the table back upstairs. Following behind was Ralph and Violet.

They dropped the table into the corner, and then moved over to us.

“Kai!” Zach had a tired tone in his voice, but took a seat. “We missed you. Where did you go?”

I focused my eyes onto the table, and responded in a low voice. “I-I felt pretty tired. So I went here to relax.”

“Ah.” He smirked. “Too bad. You missed…” He paused, and was quickly cut off by Lena. 

“Zach’s win!” She cheered from behind him, and took a seat of her own.

“Congratulations.” It wasn’t much of a surprise that Zach won, but Roselia was gaining on him. “How did Roselia take it?”

“Hah…” Zach pursed his lips. “Didn’t smash her mallet to pieces!”

Wattson sat next to him. “She did throw it though.”

“Yep!” Lena frowned. “Jazz's mallet is in pieces!”

I knew someone had to apologize for that. “S-Sorry… I hope there weren’t too many pieces on the field. I-I’ll clean them up later.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Zach didn’t seem upset. “Monokuma let us know that the field gets cleaned and reset every night at midnight.”

That was a weird thing to do. “Why?”

Zach shrugged. “Said he knew we would destroy it.”

Ralph corrected him. “I believe the wording was, ‘I knew you brats would rip this entire school apart.’ He frowned. “Or something like that.”

“Sorry again…” I sighed. “I tried to talk to Jazz, but she wasn’t really having it.”

Zach shook his head. “It’s fine. Jake was being an asshole, and he knows it.”

“Sounds like a lot of drama for a croquet game.” Morton said with a smirk.

There was a collective nod from everyone at the table. What we all thought would be a calming day activity, turned into Roselia and Jake causing multiple scenes. 

“Well, there’s always next time!” Zach scanned the table, probably expecting to have people agree with him.

“I don’t think I’ll play next time.” Violet said sternly.

“Me too.” Ralph looked down. “It was fine, but I don’t think I want to do it again.”

Wattson looked at them. “What if Jake, Jazz, and Roselia don’t come?”

Violet and Ralph seemed way more okay with that than anything else.

“I don’t know what you guys are talking about. It was great.” After all the drama, Lena seemed to enjoy herself. Good for her.

“By the way, Wattson.” Morton stared him down. “I was wondering if you wanted to try something out with me?”

Wattson looked confused. “What do you mean?”

Based on our last conversation, I knew where this was going.

“I don’t know if this is a sore subject, and if it is I apologize, but I want to try and find your talent.”

There were a few shocked faces from the group, but everyone waited for Morton to continue. 

“I spoke to Kai about this before. If your brain knows what your talent is, I could extract it with hypnosis.” 

Wattsons shook his head, his demeanor getting worse. “But I don’t know it. It’s not in my head.”

Morton leaned in. “What I think, is that something in your life caused you to ‘forget’ your real talent. I think if we get a few sessions going, that we could get you to remember it.”

There was a new look on Wattson’s face. In my opinion, it was a look of determination. I could tell his letter bothered him, and it was obvious that he wanted to know what his real talent was. “Could you really do that?”

Morton nodded. “If you knew your real talent at some point in your life, I could bring that memory out.”

“But…” Ralph looked to Wattson. “I still think it’s a misunderstanding.”

“No harm in checking, right?” Morton also seemed determined. He had quite the interest in finding out people’s talents.

“Morton’s right. I want to do it.” Wattson had that look of determination on his face. “It would make me feel better at least.”

“I--” Ralph started to talk, but Morrton cut him off.

“Great!” He stood up. “Do you want to start now, in my lab?”

Wattson rose up as well. “Sure, I don’t mind.”

Ralph stood up, and Violet followed suit.

“Oh, I’d prefer if it was just Wattson.” Morton frowned. “Other distractions might make it difficult to get things working correctly.”

I didn't think Morton would hurt Wattson, but Ralph seemed very concerned. Wattson gave him a wave, and both Ralph and Violet sat back down. After speaking to Morton, I think he really just wanted to find out Wattson’s talent. 

After they left, I spoke up. “Hey, Ralph. I spoke to Morton for a while before. I think he’s just curious.”

Ralph looked down. “I just don’t like the idea of them going off alone.”

He wasn’t wrong. Based on the situation we were currently in, I would be concerned as well. 

“You could check on them in like an hour or so?” Zach offered. 

Violet tapped Ralph on the shoulder. “If Morton wanted to try something, it would be obvious he was the culprit. I don’t think we have to worry.”

As gloomy as that sentiment was, Violet was right. Anyone who killed someone had to do it without getting caught. Morton wasn’t an idiot; he knew the rules.

Zach and Lena started up a conversation, and from there we moved off the subject of Morton and Wattson. Zach was still obviously excited after everything that happened today, so he dominated the conversation.

I didn’t mind. It was nice to just sit and relax. Dealing with Jazz and Jake had been stressful, and I just hoped that both of them would be alright.

After a while, Ralph and Violet went to go check on Wattson. Violet was right, but Ralph’s concern wasn’t shaken.

Not much changed. Zach and Lena continued to go back and forth about that day. It was really nice to see Lena recovering after last week. It wasn’t easy to accept someone’s death, but I needed her on my side if we were going to end the game.

  
  


_ Ding Dong Bing Bong _

_ Hello students! It is now 10PM.  _

_ The dining hall and gym are now closed! _

  
  


We all stood up, and proceeded to the exit. Luckily we didn't get locked inside when the announcement came through. 

  
  


_ Excellent game today! You really made it exciting for us! _

_ Sweet dreams! _

  
  


Exciting was definitely a word. Was it so hard to want just a day of relaxation in the school? There was always so much going on.

The three of us walked back to the dorms together and said our goodbyes. It had been a long day, and I was ready to have just a bit of sleep.

Although, I stopped in front of my door, and looked off at Jazz’s. I hated how we left it off. I didn’t have much to say, but I just wanted her to talk to me.

I knocked onto her door, and tried not to be loud. “Jazz?”

There was a minute of silence, but she opened the door. “What?”

“I-I-I’m sorry about today… I--” She cut me off.

“What are you sorry for?” Jazz seemed confused. 

“I…” Huh, what was I sorry for. I guess I was sorry for what Jake did. 

Jazz opened the door fully and gave me a stern look. “You didn’t do anything. I don’t know why you're apologizing. “

“I-I guess…”

“Did you really come here to apologize?”

I nodded.

She started laughing, and had to hold onto the door for balance. “You’re so weird, Kai.”

“Sorry…”

Jazz shook her head. “It’s not a bad thing. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

I nodded excitedly knowing that Jazz wasn’t mad at me.

“Cool, because I’m tired.” She started closing the door. “Night.”

“Night!”

Her door was closed, and I was filled with happiness. I was so worried that she hated me, when that wasn’t the case at all. I moved into my room, and dropped onto my bed. It really had been a long day.

I closed my eyes, and slowly drifted off into sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed part 2 of the chapter!
> 
> There are two parts left in this chapter that will come out on Thursday and Sunday.
> 
> See you then!


	8. Chapter 2: Every Turn, A wall - Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Croquet didn't go as well as I thought it would! Sadly, I feel like it stressed people out more than it helped. Even if people felt more stressed, it wasn't going to stop me from putting and end to the killing game!

It was cold. Not only my body, but the ground below me as well. Along with that my body began to itch. My arms, my legs, my back, and even my face. It felt like something was moving throughout my body, and breaking through my skin. 

I scratched at my arms as hard as I could. No matter what I did, the itch wouldn’t go away. Every piece of my body hurt, and I didn’t know what to do. I struggled in pain for what felt like hours, and finally it stopped.

The world didn’t feel real at that point. Pain was the only thing I remembered. I looked around, and saw the area around me covered in light. Even with such a bright light, the world still seemed dark.

My eyes drifted towards the source.  _ The Moon.  _ It was spinning quickly, moving through its phases much quicker than it should. A crescent, then a quarter, than a half. It kept moving until finally, it stopped.

The moon was almost full, and I could feel the itch coming. It started slow, but the longer I looked, the more intense it got. I wanted to scratch it. Every fiber of my being wanted it to go away, but I was captivated by the cleansing light.

As I kept looking, my vision started to blur. The world around me seemed to fade away, and then the color red. It was all red.

I flew out of bed. My face was wet, and my arms hurt. I touched them lightly with my hand, but they burned. They were sore as though I was… I didn't need to continue with that thought. There was only two days until the full moon. I knew where I needed to be when that happened.

As I slid out of bed, I knew that I would have to come up with a plan. At some point, I would need to sneak away from everyone and head off to my lab. If anyone found out where I was going, there would be no way I could hide my talent. There was a lot to think about. Luckily for me, I had two more days to do it.

When I left my room, Jazz was in her usual spot. She looked a lot happier than she did yesterday, which made me feel better.

“Hey.” Jazz gave me a nod as she leaned against the balcony.

After the fight in the basement, I wasn’t sure if things could possibly go back to normal. But at least Jazz seemed to be okay.  _ Maybe if we pretend like nothing happened, everyone else will too?  _ It was a nice thought.

The walk to the school was normal, and it was a pretty nice day out. There were a few scattered clouds in the sky, but I liked those. As per usual, not too hot, not too cold. It was a nice time of year.

Upon entering the school, the familiar popping sound of the broadcasting room appeared.

  
  


_ [Jolly] Good morning everyone! _

_ [Blake] And welcome to Morning Coffee! _

_ [Jolly] We’re coming to you live the day after a very exciting croquet game. _

_ [Blake] Who knew croquet could be that exciting? _

_ [Jolly] I think Jazz trying to kill Jake really helped liven things up… _

  
  


Well there went that.

I looked over to Jazz, who had her head down. She was trying to look away from me and was probably feeling embarrassed. I’m sure she just wanted everyone to forget it as well.

  
  


_ [Jolly] We also had an exciting victory for Zach Costar, yesterday. _

_ [Blake] Yep! Who knew? The person who organized the game won! _

_ [Jolly] It’s not like he didn’t have stiff competition though. Roselia was right on his tail for most of the game. _

_ [Blake] But in the end, it wasn’t enough to stop Zach from taking those wickets. _

_ [Jolly] No, it was not! _

  
  


I once again wondered how Roselia was doing after all of that trash talk. She made it sound like she was going to crush Zach. I didn’t take her as the kind of person to be a graceful loser…

Jazz and I entered the dining hall, and took our seats at the regular table. Zach was already there and seemed to be basking in the coverage he was getting.

“Hey, guys!” With the game and winning, he seemed to be in a pretty good mood. Not that he wouldn’t have been anyway.

‘Hi.” I took my seat across from him, and Jazz sat next to me.

She started to fidget in her chair, before finally looking up. “S-Sorry.” 

“Huh?” Zach looked confused.

“I’m s-sorry.” Her voice was lower this time.

“Why?”

She slammed the table with her fist. “For ruining the game! God, I’m just trying to apologize.”

Zach tried to keep his mouth closed, but then burst out laughing. 

“What?!” Jazz screamed, causing the other people in the dining hall to look at us.

He put his hands up quickly. “You didn’t ruin anything. Jake was being an asshole.”

“I-I… Well yeah. But still--” I don’t think she was prepared for the kind of response you get from Zach. I think it was just how he operated.

Zach put his hand up. “Don’t worry about it! Part of me wishes you hit him.”

“Me too.” She grumbled.

  
  


_ [Jolly] Okay, that’s all for us… _

_ [Blake] Yep, it’s a short one today… _

_ [Jolly] We’ll see you tomorrow for more news and discussions about the academy! _

  
  


Both Zach and I looked at each other. Something was wrong. Usually Blake and Jolly would just talk about anything until they got tired. It was not only super short, but they also seemed to be acting weird.

“Well.” Zach stood up. “I’m going to grab breakfast. Anyone want anything?”

My mouth moved almost on its own. “Can I just get some sausage or ham?”

Zach nodded, and then turned to Jazz. I didn’t hear what he asked her, because my mind was fixated on what just happened. I was craving meat again. Saliva started building up in my mouth; I could almost taste it.

I didn’t want to feed into it, but I decided it might be the best idea just to eat some meat. After all, it’s good for you. I thought.

While my mind was on meat, other people started to slowly trickle in. Max and Elizabeth took their usual spot. I wondered what they were doing yesterday while everyone else was playing. Probably at the gym. Lena joined us at our table, but quickly raced into the kitchen to get something to eat.

By the time Zach and Lena got back, just about everyone was in the dining hall. I guess there was no reason to miss breakfast. I was still craving meat, and stuffed chunks of ham into my mouth. It was divine. The best ham I had ever had. I didn’t remember eating other ham, but something about this was just different. My mind started to wonder who made all the food. It couldn’t have just been Monokuma, right?

Jolly and Blake entered the room, and quietly took their seats. Their expressions reflected how they were acting on the podcast, confirming that something was happening.

Jolly leaned forward, her voice in a whisper. “Monokuma told us to keep it short and head to the dining hall.”

It was bad. Monokuma had something to announce, and there was no way that it was going to be good. Part of me knew that it was going to be related to what Jolly and Blake spoke about that week.  _ A motive.  _ It was shortly after we entered the academy that he presented us with the letters, so it would make sense for him to start now.

I wondered what it could have been. The first motive was all of our secrets. My brain worked in overtime to think of what else he could possibly do to us.

Not a minute later, Monokuma waddled through the entrance.

“Looks like you’re all here!” He grabbed his stomach as he laughed. “I have something special to announce!”

Before there was the natural sound of people talking that had filled the dining hall. With the entrance of Monokuma, not a sound was made.

“First!” He looked over to our table. I could tell he was looking at Jazz “Great job yesterday!” He swung his arms through the air. “A little closer and you might have given me a body! Would have really saved us a lot of time!”

Jazz’s eyes moved down towards the table.

“Sadly,  _ almost _ isn’t going to cut it!” He shook his head. “I gave you kids a chance to keep the killing coming, but you squandered it! Once again, it’s up to me to make sure you all do your homework!”

He pointed to a random monitor that hung nearby the entrance, and the screen flicked to life. There was a map of the school, from a mostly top down view.

“Every morning that there isn’t a body, a new wall will appear.”

His words hung in the air for a second. I think he wanted us all to chew on them.  _ A new wall? _ I wondered if he meant the outside walls of the school. The idea of a new wall was unclear.

“Alright.” Max stood up from her chair. “That’s enough.”

“Oh?” Monokuma tilted his head.

“Don’t act dumb. We don’t want your motive.”

He giggled. “I don’t remember asking if you wanted it!”

“Forget it!” She looked around the room. “We’re not going to kill anymore, so you might as well just drop it.”

I wished more than anything that Max was right. The issue was that Monokuma wasn’t going to stop. Telling him no wasn’t enough.

“Too late!” He spun around in a circle, and then pointed at the monitor. Towards the back end of the map, by the cage, there was now a red line. It cut a path in front of the cage, and moved to the east side of the school. “The walls have already started closing in…”

“Shut up!” Elizabeth joined Max, except she was much less calm. Monokuma had gotten her screaming. “We don’t care about your stupid walls! Nobody wants to kill anyone!”

Monokuma’s head drooped for a second, but when he looked up his eye was glowing bright. ‘That’s okay.”

This earned a shocked expression from Elizabeth, and even seemed to catch Max off guard.

“You can keep pretending like you’re all a happy family for as long as you’d like!” Monokuma danced back and forth. His happy demeanor contrasted hard against his naturally grim smile. “I’ll keep stacking on motives until one of you snaps!” He reached behind his back, and tossed confetti into the air. “I have  _ loads _ of them! Enough motives to make a billion murders happen!”

Those words were chilling and backed up what we already feared. Somehow, Monokuma had enough motives to keep us anxious. His resources were insane, and he seemed to know almost everything about us. It wasn’t hard to believe that he had more motives.

He stopped. “But I’m not worried! You may be calm now, but see how calm you are when you lose your precious dorms!” Monokuma tilted his head. “Hmm. There aren’t many locked doors in the academy! Isn’t that interesting?”

With his eyes on us, Monokuma slowly backed out of the room. Even though a motive was just dropped on us, I felt like there was more to think about. After all, some random wall in the school wasn’t enough to scare us.  _ He wouldn’t actually take away the dorms from us, would he? _ It wasn’t a question I wanted the answer to.

Max dropped back into her seat, and slammed her fist against the table. Elizabeth immediately dropped down as well and started to talk into her ear.

I respected Max for trying, but there was no way of beating Monokuma. If we were going to stop the killing game, everyone would have to agree. One person could make the whole thing fail.

“Well. Time to go.” Jolly got out of her seat and turned towards the entrance.

“W-What?” She always seemed to be in a rush.

“I want to check out the motive.” From what I could tell, she looked almost excited.

Blake nodded. “Maybe there’s a bonus for checking it out first!”

Jolly processed that in her head. “Even more of a reason for us to go. Is everyone coming?”

My eyes shot over to Jazz, who still had her head down. “J-Jazz and I will probably be over in a bit.” I realized I should give a reason. “W-We still need to eat.”

Jolly nodded. “Zach, Lena?”

“I’ll come, but I’m not going to stay for long.” Zach shrugged. “If there was more to it, Monokuma would have mentioned it.”

Lena agreed. “Y-Yeah. Honestly not even worth looking at!” She smiled. “Who cares about a motive anyway! Right, guys?”

There was a collective nod from the group, and with that everyone left. Some of the other people in the room went as well. There was no way of knowing if they were checking out the motive, but I assumed that most people were.

Jazz hadn’t moved since Monokuma started talking. I could tell her mind was still on yesterday.

“H-Hi.” I wasn’t a good talker, and I definitely didn’t know how to start that conversation.

She didn’t answer. If you told me she was asleep, I might have believed you.

“Jazz?”

There was a stir from her, but she wouldn’t look up. “Sorry.”

“What’s uh… What’s wrong?”

There was silence for a while, and I wasn’t sure if she was going back to ignoring me. I didn't want to press her if she wasn’t ready to talk, but I was getting worried. 

Before I could say anything, she spoke. “I wasn’t trying to kill him…”

“J-Jake?”

She nodded.

There wasn’t a single second where I thought that was her intention. He was the one being awful to her.

“Everyone is saying that I wanted to kill him!” She looked up at me, and showed me an expression of panic. “I didn’t! Kai, I swear I didn’t!” Jazz looked like she was going to cry.

“I--”

Jazz gripped the table and cut me off. “I just don’t want you to think I’m a bad person.”

Her words blindsided me and knocked any thoughts I had out of my head. My mouth hung open, as if I was trying to express words that weren’t there. “W-Why would I think you’re a bad person?”

Jazz’s eyes lowered. “Because I always get angry…”

“That doesn’t make you a bad person, though!”

She still wouldn’t look up. “But…”

It hurt me to be having this conversation with Jazz. She had been there for me since day one. She helped me confront Jake, kept me company, even tried to protect me. How could she think that I had an issue? “Jazz. You’re the nicest person in the whole school!”

Jazz tilted her head. “No, I’m not.”

“To me you are.”

“No…”

“You’ve been here for me the whole time! You’re the one I trust more than anyone else here!”

She didn’t look up, but Jazz smiled. It wasn’t a large smile, but it was a smile. I had to keep going.

“I n-need you, Jazz. Sure, I have other friends here, but no one else is Jazz!” She didn’t move. I wanted to make sure she understood. “I can’t beat this killing game without you.”

“And you don’t hate me?”

I shook my head, trying to convey everything with my voice. “I could never hate you Jazz! I know you. Even if you can’t see it, I know that you’re an amazing person! That’s why I could never hate you.”

She raised her head, and revealed the tears that were streaming down her face. Jazz wiped them with her hand and then dove forward. She wrapped her arms around me, and pulled me into a strong hug. It was a warm feeling.

It took a bit, but she finally let go. Her tears were gone, although I think some of them went right into my shirt.

We got up and went off towards the motive. My eyes glanced across the empty dining hall and landed on Morton. When I spotted him, I noticed that he was looking straight at us. His eyes widened, and he quickly looked at the table.

I could feel my face heat up, as it became apparent that he saw that whole thing. It was embarrassing, but I didn’t care that much. I was just happy that Jazz was able to understand my feelings.

The motive became apparent the second we left the school. It was impossible to miss. Just like Monokuma said, there was a massive wall in front of us. I stepped forward, trying to wrap my brain around what I was seeing. It was just a wall, but something about it just put me on edge.

Jazz and I made our way to the staircase, and from there it was easier to see what Monokuma was talking about. The wall was placed at an angle. Just like the screen showed, it cut right in front of the cage and moved to the other side of the school. None of the racetrack could be seen.

I guess that meant that only two buildings were actually obstructed by it. Once again, the motive wasn’t that interesting. But something about the massive shadow it cast made it intimidating. 

Before we could start down the steps, Lena met us at the top of the stairs.

“Hi.” I wasn’t sure what to say; we had just seen each other not ten minutes before.

Lena’s eyes moved upwards after coming up to us. “Hey.”

“Is there anything interesting down there?”

She shook her head. “Nope. Just a wall. Nothing but wall.”

As Zach said, Monokuma would have let us know if there was more to this motive. Unless we were given more information, it was just a wall. “That’s good!” I didn’t know if it was actually good, but I wasn’t sure what else to say.

“Yep!’ She looked back to us and smiled. “Just a wall! Honestly, this motive is gonna be a piece of cake!” Without even waiting for a response, Lena rolled forward towards the school.

Part of what she said worried me. The motive did seem too easy. We were already trapped inside walls. What were a few more going to do? Maybe it was just an example showing that Monokuma wasn’t perfect.

Either way, Jazz and I made our way down to the new obstruction. Zach, Blake, and Jolly were still down there, so it wouldn’t hurt to check it out. While we walked down the steps, I could see Wattson, Violet, and Ralph by the right end of the wall. Wattson had just gotten his lab, and just days later it was taken away. He seemed to be really happy with it too...

Towards the middle section of the wall, in front of the stairs, was a larger group. Jolly, Zach, and Blake were accompanied by Max and Elizabeth.

“So?” Max asked. She was standing behind Jolly, trying to look over her shoulders.

“I don’t know. It’s stone… I think? Why don’t you ask Ralph?” Jolly seemed to have an annoyed tone.

“He’s on the other side.” Max turned to us. “Besides, he always goes in the opposite direction whenever he sees me.”

Zach scoffed. “Wonder why?”

Max didn’t look at him, but Elizabeth’s eyes trained on Zach. She didn’t say anything, but you could tell what she was thinking.

“Hello Kai. Jazz.” Max nodded to us, drawing the attention of the others.

“H-Hi!”

“Come to see our great wall?” Zach lazily gestured to the structure behind him.

I nodded.

Blake frowned. “And I thought you two were going to sneak off somewhere!”

My face started to burn again, so I looked down. “I-It wasn’t like that…”

“Ah, I’m just teasing!” He walked up to me. “You were just waiting until she was ready.”

I nodded, and Blake gave me a wink. This made me even more red.

“Nevertheless, this is an interesting motive.” Jolly dragged her finger across the bottom of the wall. “And we have to think about how Monokuma put this all together over the course of an hour.”

_ Huh?  _ My brain went off what Blake had said and tried to process Jolly’s words. An hour? Did Monokuma really put the wall up that quickly?

“How?” Max questioned.

Jolly pressed her hands against the wall, and knocked her fist against it. “We don’t know the how. All we know is that the morning announcement was around an hour before he introduced the motive.” She turned to the group with a confused expression. “This wasn’t here when Blake and I left his lab.”

_ It wasn’t? How was that possible?  _ Once again, I was questioning what Monokuma could and couldn’t do. If he was able to place a wall of this size into the school in under an hour, what else could he be capable of? And wouldn’t there have been better motives?

“There has to be a trick.” Max walked up to it, and started knocking just like Jolly.

“It’s a wall. What kind of trick are you expecting?” Blake looked to Max and then the wall.

“Well then how do  _ you  _ explain it?” Elizabeth followed Max over, and started mimicking her knocking. I had no idea what either of them thought they were doing. It was a wall. Did they not think it was a wall?

“Guys.” Zach tried to grab everyone’s attention. “I think we’re all thinking about this too hard. It’s just a wall. We’re allowed to ignore it.”

Max slammed her fist against the wall, further confirming that it was solid. “No! You heard Monokuma. It’s a  _ motive _ .”

Nobody said anything in response. She wasn’t wrong.

“We underestimated his motive last time, and look at what happened.” Max grimaced. “I need you all to take this seriously.”

Zach raised his hands in the air. “Sorry. None of us forgot what happened last week. I’m just saying that the point of this wall is to freak us out.” He shrugged. “Poking and prodding it all day isn’t going to help.”

There was a sigh from Jolly, and she stepped away from the wall. “Zach’s right. Monokuma mentioned the dorms being closed off. His intention is probably to give us less space to move around.” She cupped her hands and moved them closer together. “Pushing us on top of each other is going to make fights happen and boost our anxiety.”

Zach gestured to Jolly, as if to say “see?.”

Maybe they were both right. I had underestimated the motive already. Something like that could easily drive tension up between everyone, and the idea of being away from our dorm is even scarier. Where would we sleep without it? At that time, the wall wasn’t very scary. But if Zach and Jolly were right, the school could get way worse very quickly.

Max placed her hand on her head, and let out a deep sigh. “This is what I’m talking about! That stupid bear has everything already thought out. How are we supposed to stop him when he’s so far ahead of us!?”

It was a question that none of us had the answer to. Monokuma was terrifying. It wasn’t because of his personality or appearance, it was how intelligent he seemed to be. No matter what happened, he was already prepared to adapt. Always seemed to have an answer. It wasn’t impossible to think that he had some sort of future knowledge.

“I say we leave it alone and come up with a strategy later.” Zach walked to the stairs. “If we stand next to it all day, we’re going to get psyched out.” He paused. “Besides, what if it is like a weapon and standing next to it is bad for you?  _ I  _ don’t want to take the risk!” He smiled and walked up the stairs.

Jolly and Blake followed right behind him, seemingly agreeing with his sentiment. Although I don’t think Max was happy, her and Elizabeth left as well. Maybe Lena was the smart one. She ditched the wall the second she saw it. Everyone else was busy worrying about what it could mean, and she was probably already asleep in her bed.

While the rest of them went back, I could see Wattson’s group heading towards the stairs as well. Jazz and I waited for them. Although Wattson acknowledged us as he walked over, he didn’t stop to talk. Instead, he walked straight for the stairs.

Violet and Ralph walked over to us, with their eyes following Wattson up the stairs.

“Was he in a hurry?” Neither of them looked happy. I wonder if Wattson wasn’t doing well.

Ralph looked to Violet, and then looked back. “He’s stressed. I think he was looking forward to a drive this morning…” They didn’t even have to explain themselves. It was just as I thought. Wattson just got his lab, and now it was already gone.

“Where was he going?”

Ralph’s lip twitched for a second, but he quickly turned away.

“Morton’s.” Violet pulled down her mask. Her expression was neutral, but her eyes drifted onto Ralph. He still seemed to not like the idea.

“Wait.” Didn’t he go to Morton’s yesterday? “Why is he going to Mortons?”

Violet looked back at Jazz and I. “They’re still trying to uncover his talent.”

“Oh. So, it didn’t work yesterday?”

She moved her hands together, and started to rub her palms. “I believe Morton said they would need multiple sessions.” Violet stopped. “I guess hypnosis is a long process.”

“Maybe.” Ralph grumbled.

“I refuse to argue with you about this.” Violet pulled her mask up. 

He was now turned towards the wall. “I’m just saying. I don’t trust him.”

Did Ralph think Morton was lying about needing multiple sessions? Or was it something else?

“Feel free to tell that to Wattson. Again.” Her voice was cold, but I don’t think she was trying to put Ralph down. It sounded like they had this conversation before. Maybe Wattson’s behavior was because of that.

“I just…” Ralph didn’t look towards us, and instead started walking towards the stairs. He was gone, and we were left with just Violet.

“I don’t trust Morton either.” Jazz said in a low voice, but it was loud enough for everyone to hear. That part was probably intentional. 

Violet didn’t look at her, but responded. “Okay.”

I couldn’t say that I trusted Morton, but the conversation we had definitely made me feel a little better. It felt like every time I got to really talk to someone, it helped me like them a little more. Maybe that was the key to stopping the game… 

I looked up to Violet. “I know it doesn’t really matter, but how do you feel about Morton?”

She tilted her head, and stared at me for a minute. “Why?”

“I-I… I was able to talk to him recently… He seemed nice.” I could feel Jazz staring at me. “If anything I would say he’s more of an enthusiast!” The idea of using hypnosis on Wattson or I, really excited him. Maybe he just wanted to use his talent?

Violet nodded slowly. “I don’t create opinions of people I don’t know.” There was a silence, but Violet wasn’t done. “Although, I will take what you say into account.” She stared off into the ground. “Until I find out who Morton is for myself, I don’t want to make any judgements.”

“That’s fair!” It was a good practice. Especially since I had a worse opinion of Morton until I actually talked to him. It’s easy to get a bias for people.

“Well.” She started for the stairs. “Great talking to you, Kai.” She nodded to Jazz. “Jazz.” Then she left, not rushing like Ralph, but she kept a brisk pace. 

After she was gone Jazz growled. “The  _ fuck _ is that supposed to mean?”

“I-I think she was just saying goodbye.”

“Yeah, but you got a “great talking to you.” She looked hurt. “All I get is a “Jazz?”

I wasn’t sure what to say. Realistically, Violet just hadn’t warmed up to Jazz yet. I was sure that she would, but until then she would be a bit cold. It was just how Violet was. But I knew that there was a warm part to her. I knew she was just shy.

“So what now?” Jazz’s tone told me that she was still a bit hurt.

Unlike the first time, that motive didn’t give us something new to do. By the time we heard the motive the first time, everyone was searching the school for letters.

“We could eat?” Although I had used it as an excuse to stay behind, Jazz and I never actually ate anything. I really needed to be better with that. There was always something crazy going on, it felt like there was never a second to breathe, much less eat a meal. Maybe some free time was what we needed to relax.

“Sounds good.” 

Jazz was open to the idea, and we headed back to the dining hall. Who knows how many meals I skipped in the first week of the game. It made me wonder if I should just start eating larger meals.

The dining hall was pretty empty. Jolly and Blake had made their way there, so that was nice. Ralph also sat in the back of the room alone. Violet must have not met up with him.

Jazz and I grabbed food from the kitchen first, and then took seats at our regular table. Jolly and Blake seemed to be excited that we were there.

“Hey guys!” Blake stopped his camera, which had been spinning under his hand. “What are you two up to?”

Jazz and I looked at each other. “Eating…”

Their excitement collectively dropped. What else would we have been doing here?

Blake slumped back in his chair. “Lame.”

“What are you guys doing?” I assumed the answer was nothing. They were trying to see if we had any ideas.

“Nothing.” Jolly grumbled.

“Yeah.” Blake spun the camera on the table. “The last motive at least gave us something to do!”

“W-Well, we can do something else. I’m sure there’s something to do around here.” I didn’t have any ideas. I was really hoping that Jolly or Blake would come up with something. They were the creative ones.

Jolly placed her head on the table. “Something to distract people from the whole motive, maybe.”

“Like a party?” Jazz took a bite out of a sandwich. I had wondered if she was listening.

Jolly and Blake’s eyes slowly drifted together. Jazz’s idea was the spark that they needed to get their mind moving. “A party!” They both shouted together.

“Yeah.” She didn’t really seem interested, and went back to her sandwich.

“Now you did it!” Blake smacked his hand on his leg, and began looking around. “We need a party to break up all this mopey energy!”

“But what kind of party?” Jolly started to tap her fingers on the table. It seemed random, and couldn’t have been voluntary. 

“Something fun. Something new.” Blake stared intently at his camera.

Jazz and I just watched them as they vocally brainstormed this idea. Neither of us really wanted to contribute, but we were captive audiences.

“We already did a thing in the basement.”

Jolly nodded. “That wasn’t really a party though.”

Blake frowned. “If only there was a cool place where we could do something. We have such a big school but no interesting places!”

I tilted my head and looked at Blake. What was he talking about? We literally had a club outside the front door. It was the whole point of the building. And the pool just opened up as well. That felt like a party spot. My brain just defaulted to the most recent answer. “What about the pool?”

Blake didn’t seem that interested in my response. “Eh, that doesn’t sound very fun.”

“I like it!” Jolly stopped tapping her fingers, but still bopped excitedly. 

“ _ What _ ?” Blake frowned. “Isn’t a pool party a bit kiddish?”

Jolly shook her head. “Nah. Pools are great!” She stood up from her chair. “Besides, water is relaxing. It’s exactly what people need right now.”

“I guess.” Blake, although not as excited, got out of his seat as well.

“Where are you guys going?” 

They were halfway out the door before they stopped. “Well, we have to go plan it.”

“Duh.” Blake rolled his eyes.

My mind went back to how well put together the croquet game was. “Why don’t you ask Zach for help? He had some good ideas for croquet.”

Jolly nodded. “Good idea. Kai, you and Jazz go to talk to Zach about this.” She pointed to Blake. “Blake and I will check out the pool and think of ideas.”

Without even letting me respond, they both raced down the hallway to the pool. I wasn’t volunteering, but now I had to help plan the party. I had been looking forward to some bit of relaxation as well…

Jazz looked at me with tired eyes. “Do we have to?”

I nodded. “Sorry.”

She groaned, and pushed the seat back with force.

Even though I was hoping to relax, we left the dining hall. There was always something to do in the academy. Never a time for a break.

We walked down the main hall, before a thought hit me. I didn’t actually know where Zach was! “Jazz, do you know where Zach is?”

She stopped, and then looked down at me. “Why would I know that?’

That’s right, she had been with me the entire time. It was worth a shot I guess. Now we had to find Zach. Usually he hung around in the dining hall, but he obviously wasn’t there. It seemed like a stretch, but I wondered if he was playing croquet.

“Let’s try the basement... “

Jazz nodded, and we kept moving through the hall. If he wasn’t there, our next move would probably be his room. Unless he was randomly wandering the school.

As we descended the steps downward, I could hear the smacks of the croquet mallet. Someone was down there, and I was hoping it would be Zach. 

Once we turned around the staircase, I could see him in the middle of the field. It looked like he was playing alone, just going through the motions.

“H-Hello!” I tried to be loud enough that he would hear me, but not too loud that it would disturb anyone. Zach did hear me, and turned up towards the stairs.

“Hey, you two!”

We moved into the basement, and Lena jumped out at us. “Hi!”

I dove backwards, and Jazz seemed to lunge forward before she saw who it was. Both of us stared at her; she didn’t seem to realize she spooked us. 

“H-Hi Lena…”

“What are you guys doing here!” She hopped up and down. Her eyes bounced between us as Zach walked over.

“Ah, we were looking for Zach.” She didn’t seem to have a mallet. I guess she wasn’t playing.

“Ooo! Why?” Her gaze pulled over to him. Zach looked interested now.

“Jolly and Blake were thinking of doing a pool part--”

Lena moved even closer. It was at the point she was right in my face. “A pool party?!” 

Jazz took a step closer to me as I nodded.

“That’s such a good idea!” Lena bobbed up and down in place. “Honestly, that’s the first thing we should have done when the pool opened up!”

Zach nodded sadly. “It might have been a better idea than a croquet game…”

I hoped that he wasn’t upset with himself. I couldn’t speak for everyone else, but I had fun learning croquet, even if I wasn’t good at it. “So, I told them that we should have you help with planning.” I smiled. “You did such a good job planning the croquet game.”

He looked down for a second, and then back up with a large smile on his face. “Oh that? It was just luck!” Zach tilted his head. “But I guess luck is my talent.”

“Are you going to use your luck on the pool party as well?” Lena was still jittering in place. 

Zach laughed. “I guess I should, shouldn’t I? The party could fail if I don’t...”

Lena nodded and then turned to us. “When are we doing it?”

I wasn’t actually sure. Jolly and Blake hadn’t mentioned when, I just assumed we were doing it tomorrow. There was no way they could put something together that fast, right? “Uhh, probably tomorrow?”

She grabbed Zach’s sleeve and started pulling him towards the stairs. “Then we better get to work!”

We all traveled to the pool. Like they said, Blake and Jolly were inspecting the area. The storage room in the back of the pool was open, and certain things were pulled out and placed in front of it.

“Hello!” Lena shouted as we walked in. “Zach and I are here to help make this the best party ever!”

Jolly nodded. “Fantastic. I think if we spent our time well today, we should be ready tomorrow.”

“We could announce it tomorrow morning.” Blake pointed upward. “We won’t have to go around asking people.”

“Good idea.”

I looked around the room, and wondered what you would actually need for a pool party. There were already chairs and a diving board. The storage room seemed to have a bunch of toys and boards to play with as well. I wasn’t sure what work would need to be done.

“So.’ Zach walked up and down the side of the pool. “What do you need me for?”

Jolly looked at Blake and then frowned. “We’re going to get food from the dining hall, but we feel like we need more than that.” She shrugged. “I’m sure we’d be fine with just that, but if you have any ideas, it would be appreciated.”

“Ah.” He smirked. “That’s why you need my talent.” Zach dropped into one of the lounge chairs sitting on the side of the pool. “What’s missing? What does this need?”

“It should be  _ in  _ the pool!” Lena shouted.

He shook his head. “Something more basic.”

That was a nice way of responding. I was sure Monokuma would freak out on us if we threw the chairs into the pool…

“I don’t know.” Jolly stated. He had her attention, though.

“Drinks.” Zach reached out next to him, and then stared at his empty hand. “How can I relax poolside without an ice cold beverage to enjoy?” He had a pained expression on his face. “It would ruin any party-goer’s experience.” 

Jolly nodded. “True. Although, I was going to bring water and such from the kitchen. I just said food was to simplify things.”

Zach shot out of his chair, and gave Jolly a sour look. “That won’t do. When I’m relaxing by the pool, I want something exciting!” He pointed to an empty corner of the room. “What if we set up a bar over there? I can make people great drinks.” He winked. “Non-alcoholic of course!”

Blake took his own spot in one of the chairs. “Up to you. I’m sure there's some soda or something in the fridge.”

“Actually. The gf told me about a cool place at the school where we could get some stuff for mixing.” He smirked. “Bet you guys never even knew.”

“Jazz’s lab?” I asked, remembering when Jake made himself something behind the bar. I think that place had loads of different flavorings covering the wall.

Zach turned to me. “Okay, maybe Kai’s heard of it.” He spotted Jazz next to me. “Maybe Jazz as well…”

“Of course I’ve seen my own lab.” Jazz had her signature tone of annoyance.

He made his way towards the door and waved to us to come with him. “Then who better to help me get stuff from the lab than you two?”

_ We walked into that one… _

“Okay.” Jolly started typing in her Monopad. “You three can help Zach get the bar together. “Lena, Blake, and I will make sure the pool is in good shape and see about the food.”

“Sounds good!” Lena exclaimed.

We proceeded to Jazz’s lab, which thankfully was the closest building to the pool. Upon entering, Zach stopped and looked around the room.

“Wow, this place is great!”

I nodded. “You haven’t been inside?”

“Nope!”

The three of us made our way to the bar. My mind started to think about what he had said. Multiple times he claimed that he was dating Lady Luck. It seemed like a joke at first, but how would he know about the bar in Jazz’s lab? Especially if he had never been inside…

He started to rummage through the bottles in the back. “This is insane. There’s like a flavor for anything!” Zach kept picking up a new bottle, and was just as surprised every time. “This one is rose petals! Who would even want that?”

Jazz and I just sat at the counter while he looked. Obviously, we couldn’t take them all. Zach would just have to settle with a few that we could carry. But he was taking a while. He had around fifty different flavors off the shelf and on the counter.

“Don’t worry. This is just what I think is really good.” He scanned the vials. “I’ll narrow this down and then we’ll be perfect!”

It was starting to get boring, so I tried to start a conversation. “So, you were playing croquet with just Lena?”

He shook his head. “Nah, she didn’t want to play.”

“Oh.” That sucks. I assumed she would have wanted to play. “You didn’t mind playing alone?”

Zach pulled the top off a bottle and smelled it. The face he made confirmed it was not a good choice. “Uh, it’s fine. It’s more like practice than anything else!” He shrugged. “I’m bored out of my mind here! It’s something to do.”

I understood what he meant. Everyone was feeling some sort of boredom. Whether it was the anxiety, or just the lack of things to do.

“And Lena was just watching?”

He nodded. “Yeah, it seemed like she had something on her mind. She had just been sitting against the wall the whole time while I played.”

I wonder if she was tired before, because she seemed fine when we showed up. Maybe she was bored as well.

“Seems fine now, though.”

“I think she could sit still a bit more.” Jazz mumbled. Not that it mattered, we were all right next to each other.

“Hah, yeah.” Zach continued to narrow down his placement. “She has a lot of energy.”

“We can see that.” Jazz wasn’t even trying to hide that she didn’t like Lena. But then again, I felt like Jazz didn’t like a lot of people.

He looked down at the remaining twenty bottles. “I think she’s just bored like the rest of us.” He stopped. “Not to mention Paige…”

Silence took over, as none of us really knew what to say about that. Lena had bounced back, but I’m sure she still thought about what happened. It was a horrible reminder that we were in a killing game. As much as we wanted to pretend it wasn’t there, Monokuma’s motives hung over us. But that was the point of the party. We just need a bit of a distraction.

“Okay!” Zach clapped his hands together and moved off the subject. “I think this is the final list.” He waved his hands over the final twenty bottles. I thought that was a lot, but I don’t know if there was anything we could do to persuade him. 

I looked down at the tap on the bar. Jake poured a bit of the flavoring into a cup, and then used the tap to make the drink. I don’t know if you were supposed to use regular water. “What about that.” I pointed to it.

Zach’s eyes slowly moved to it, and then hung there for a second. His mouth opened, and then slowly closed. “Well…” He sighed, but then shook his head. “We’ll figure that out later!”

“You hadn’t thought about it, did you?” Jazz groaned.

Zach laughed. “I was focused on the best flavors! Isn’t that more important after all?”

Jazz stared directly at him with a blank face. “No. No it’s not.”

He grabbed a handful of the bottles, and gestured for both of us to take some as well. “We’ll just ask Monokuma for something to use.”

I wasn’t about to be the one to remind him that Monokuma told us no last time we asked him for help. And that was just to bring a table downstairs. I didn’t want to hear his response about the tap.

When we got back to the pool. There were already two large tables in the back corner Zach had pointed to. Blake, Jolly, and Lena were able to get those that quick? We had been in Jazz’s lab for longer than we should have, but I didn’t think they would have been able to bring the tables that quick.

“Woah!” Zach placed the vials on one of the tables. “Great job, guys!”

Lena popped out of the storage room. “Don’t thank us, Monokuma brought them over!”

“What?” Zach looked hurt. “He brought  _ you guys  _ tables?”

“That’s right!” Monokuma’s voice carried from the other side of the pool. He was lounging on a chair, with sunglasses on his face and a drink in his hand. The drink was a coconut cup. Where would he have even gotten that?”

“Why did you bring stuff for them and not for me?” Zach gave Monokuma the saddest expression he could.

“Because!” Monokuma lifted his sunglasses. “Croquet is  _ boring _ ! A pool party on the other hand? Now that’s exciting!” He took a sip from the drink. Or I thought he did. Monokuma didn’t exactly have a mouth. “People will love this!”

“Does that mean you’ll get me a seltzer machine so I can make drinks tomorrow?” Zach pleaded again.

“What?!” Monokuma hopped off the chair and inspected the vials. “These are from the Ultimate DJ’s lab!”

“Yes.” Zach nodded. “And they’re going to need something to mix with them.”

Monokuma stared at Zach for a few seconds. “Fine! I’ll see what I can do.” He tossed his coconut cup onto the table and stomped out the door. “I give you a whole club to have parties in, and yet you have parties  _ everywhere else _ !”

With that, he was gone.

Jolly walked out of the storage room and let out a large sigh. “Thank god you got him to leave. We asked him for one thing, and then he decided he wanted to stay.”

“What’s the problem?” Blake called from his chair. “He was just relaxing.”

Jolly frowned. “I swear. He was just watching me the whole time.”

Blake shrugged. 

“Well.” Zach gestured towards the table. “We got the drinks.”

Jolly typed into her Monopad. “Excellent. It looks like we have just about everything covered.”

“Even the food?” I asked. I assumed we were just going to take things from the dining hall, but it didn’t hurt to ask.

Jolly grimaced, and Blake started laughing. She gave him a dark stare, and then looked back at us. “Monokuma said he wanted to grill…”

Blake erupted in laughter again.

“I’m not eating anything he makes.” Jazz growled. “He’ll probably poison it or something.”

“D-Doesn’t he make the food that we get from the dining hall?” I didn’t want to make fun of Jazz, but I don’t think he would hurt us.

“I…” Jazz scowled.

“It'll be fine!” Zach nodded. “It says in the rules that he can’t hurt us!”

  
  


~~~

  
  


We spent another hour or so fixing up the pool. Everything from the storage room was made a bit more accessible, and we talked over the plan for tomorrow. Supposedly, Monokuma mentioned having swimsuits for us as well.

There wasn’t anything left for us to do, so we all headed back to the dining hall for dinner. The pool party was something to look forward to, so I think we all were excited. Lena specifically bounced in her seat and wouldn’t even touch her food.

“Someone’s excited.” Zach noted while he chewed his food.

Lena nodded quickly. “I love swimming! It feels like you’re floating in the water!”

I couldn’t remember if I had ever swam before. Not having my memories meant that I wasn’t going to remember it any time soon. I probably had at some point, but something about the pool made me nervous. Part of me didn’t want to swim at all. I decided to sleep on it.

“It is great.” Zach stared down at his plate with a smile. “We had such a huge pool at my house. Doing laps was my mom’s preferred exercise.”

Blake smirked. “Yeah, me and my recording buddies had a pool at our house too. It was pretty big!”

“Really? How big?” Zach looked curiously. 

Blake looked down, partially trying to cover his smirk. “Not to flex, but it was fifty feet long.” Blake waved his arms in front of himself. “But it came with the house.”

“Nice!” Zach tilted his head. “We had an olympic sized pool. My mom said doing laps in anything smaller was a waste.”

Jolly looked up from her Monopad with wide eyes. “That’s excessive…”

Blake seemed confused. “What? How big is that?”

“I think it’s the same size as yours, fifty feet.” Zach nodded.

Jolly shook her head. “An olympic pool is fifty  _ meters _ .” She moved her hands away from each other to signify size. “So, you know. Three times the size.”

“Oh!” Zach laughed. “She did like her laps!”

Blake looked down, his face a bit red. “Y-Yeah… I wasn’t much of a swimmer anyway. As I said, it came with the house.”

There was an awkward silence after that, and we just continued eating. As wasn’t opposed to some silence. I didn’t have anything to add to these conversations. It wasn’t like I remembered who my parents were, or what my house looked like. I don’t think it hurt for people to talk about these things, but it made me feel a bit empty.

After a while, Zach restarted the conversation. “So,” Zach looked to Blake and Jolly. “You two are going to announce the party tomorrow morning right?”

They both nodded, and Jolly started tapping on her Monopad. “We’ll make it the last announcement before we get off. I’ll work out the timing details and what-not.” She frowned. “I think Monokuma will be flexible. I’ll have to check.”

“Sounds good.” Zach looked to the rest of us. “Should we meet at the pool an hour or two before? Just to check if anything needs to be set up?”

“Absolutely.” Jolly looked up from the device. “We’ll have to check with Monokuma about food and make sure that he’s going to help with the drinks.”

“That’s true.” Zach took another bite of his food. “He didn’t seem too happy about helping.”

“But he said he would!” Lena reminded us with an optimistic expression.

It was still weird to me that we were asking Monokuma for so much. On one hand, he was trying to kill us. On the other, we were so dependent on him. I wish we didn’t have to rely on him so much, but I’m not sure we would have survived otherwise. 

We all finished eating our meals, and then Zach got up. “I’m going to head off to bed. Big day tomorrow!”

Jolly’s eyes were still down on the Monopad. “It’s a bit early for sleep. I’m going to stay here for a bit.”

“Suit yourself.” 

Blake slowly pulled himself up. “Yeah, something about today just really knocked me out. I think I need a good twelve hours.”

This caught Jolly’s attention. “You’re not going to get twelve hours. We need to be up tomorrow for the podcast.”

He sighed. “I know. I know.”

I looked over to Jazz, who had said almost nothing the entire time we were there. She was just staring down at the table, with the same look she had stared at her food with. I think she just didn’t want to contribute to the conversation. I hoped it wasn’t more than that.

“Well, if no one else is doing anything, I’m gonna take a jog!” Lena shouted as she launched out of her chair.

“A-At night?” She had the whole day to do a walk, but she wanted to do it now?

“Pfft.” Lena bounced in place. “Night running is the best!”

I wasn’t going to argue with her, but I personally hate the sound of that. It was probably the moon, but something about being out at night scared me. Yeah, it was the moon.

She zoomed out the room, leaving only Jazz, Jolly, and I. Part of me wondered if Lena even needed to sleep. Her moods went from tired to full energy randomly. 

I tapped Jazz on the shoulder, causing her to come back into the real world. “D-Do you want us to stay here with you, Jolly?” Everyone else left, but I wouldn’t want to leave Jolly alone.

She shook her head. “I’m fine. Who knows how long I’m going to be here.”

“What are you doing?”

Jolly placed the Monopad down. “I’m compiling information about this place. I think the key to getting out of here resides somewhere within the school, or maybe Monokuma.” She looked down again and started to tap the screen. “If I keep track of everything that happens, then surely we’ll find what we’re looking for.”

“Oh.” I wasn’t sure what else to say. It was at least comforting to know that Jolly had her mind focused on leaving as well. Someone like her could probably figure it out way faster than I could.

“But, don’t worry about me. As I said, I may be here awhile.”

I nodded and tapped Jazz again. She quietly followed me out of the room, and we made our way to the dorms. I didn’t mind her being quiet, but it just made me feel uneasy. Maybe having her around that group all the time was a bad idea.

“Jazz?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you like them?”

“Huh…?”

“Like Jolly, Zach, Blake, and Lena. Do you like them?”

“I guess.” Her tone didn’t seem very convincing.

“W-We don’t have to hang around them if you don’t want…”

Jazz let some air out of her mouth. “It’s okay. I want to be around your friends.”

The phrase your friends stuck out to me. I wanted to tell her she was wrong, but I guess they were  _ my  _ friends. Maybe the reason she was quiet wasn’t that she didn’t like them, maybe it was because she felt left out.

“Oh, okay.” I didn’t like how that was left off, but I couldn’t decide what the answer was. Should I hang around them less and give Jazz more time with just me? Or should I try to pull her into the group. I wanted her to be friends with them, but I wasn’t sure if  _ she  _ wanted to be friends with them. There was a lot to think about. I really just wanted Jazz to be happy.

We parted ways in our rooms. I don’t know about Jazz, but I was feeling a bit tired. Blake was right, something about today was just exhausting. To further that, almost the second I touched my bed, I fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! It's a bit short today.
> 
> Messed up where I wanted to cut things and didn't want to make it TOO LARGE of a part. So Part 4/5 will be on Saturday and Monday.
> 
> Thank you for reading!


	9. Chapter 2: Every Turn, A wall - Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things were not going well. Just as we all thought, a new motive was introduced. I couldn't tell if it was the walls, or everything going on, but it felt like we were all on edge. I just hoped that the pool party could help relieve some of that stress...

_ Ding Dong Bing Bong _

  
  


I slowly opened my eyes and looked at the ceiling. The morning announcement woke me out of a pretty restful sleep.

  
  


_ Goooooooood Morning Students! It is now 7AM! The dining hall and the gym are now open. I hope you all have a beautiful day! _

  
  


There was a pause from Monokuma.

  
  


_ Also. No body yet. I have taken the liberty of decreasing the playing field as promised! _

  
  


His next words had a dark tone to them.

  
  


_ Students who are planning on graduating, you may want to make a move while you still have a chance! _

  
  


I jumped out of bed and ignored his message. No one was going to kill. He can make the motive sound as scary as he wanted, but it just wasn’t enough to scare anyone. Besides, the pool party was more than enough to excite everyone.

My eyes caught a glimpse of something hanging from my doorknob. It was two items of clothing. One was a ripped pair of swim trunks, and the other was a just as ripped water shirt. Both were similar in color to my regular outfit, and were probably based off of it. There was a note on the outside.

  
  


_ Choose your style. I don’t judge! _

_ -Headmaster Monokuma _

  
  


I looked down at the note, not exactly sure what he meant. It was obviously for the pool party today. Although, once again, Monokuma had given me ripped clothes. I thought that buying new shirts from the store would be the end of it, but I was wrong.

Before leaving, I tossed the swim suit onto my bed. I didn’t need to wear it until later, so I could always come back and change.

I proceeded outside and found Jazz in her normal position. She gave me a wave, and we proceeded to head towards the dining hall.

“When I woke up this morning, my swimsuit was on my door! It’s a lot like what I’m wearing now.” Jazz was off her normal tone; she actually sounded kinda happy. “Was your’s there too?”

I nodded. “Sadly.”

“Sadly?”

“It’s ripped up, just like my regular school clothes.”

Her tone immediately shifted down. “Oh. Sorry.” 

I shrugged. “It’s fine! Monokuma’s just messing with me.”

“Yea--” She stopped as we walked out of the dorms. Her eyes were off to the right. I followed her gaze and quickly saw what she was looking at. The wall was closer.

I guess after the announcement this morning, it was to be expected. Monokuma had mentioned multiple times that we would slowly lose space when a body wasn’t found. It was just so jarring.

The wall had moved up the stairs, and was now almost touching The Veranda, Jazz’s lab. The first day of the motive, the wall was imposing but seemed far away. Over the span of a single day it crept up so close.

We could see Jolly and Blake standing in front of it.

“L-Let’s go see what they’re doing, okay?”

Jazz nodded, and we walked over to them. As we walked closer, it could be seen that they weren’t doing anything. They both just sat in front of the wall, staring.

“H-Hey.”

Blake spun around, but Jolly just sat there. 

“Hey guys.” Blake got off the ground and jogged over to us. “Morning.”

“Good morning.” My eyes fixated on Jolly. “What are you two doing?”

He pointed towards the wall behind him. “Well, the new wall cut us off from the recording studio.” He paused. “So… We’re sorta mourning the loss of that…”

“It’s not like that.” Jolly stood up with an angry expression on her face. “Monokuma did this on purpose.”

“Yup.” Blake agreed.

“He’s trying to stop us from reaching people.” Jolly paced back and forth in front of the wall. “Maybe he’s even trying to stop us from having a party. He wants morale to be down after all. This could be a part of the motive…”

Blake's previous agreement turned to confusion. “No?”

“How else can you explain it then?” Jolly stopped walking, and looked up at the wall.

“He told us he was going to start taking away space every day. And then he took away space.” Blake shrugged. “I don’t think it’s that deep.”

Jolly gave Blake a dark look.

“B-But Monokuma was going to move the wall already, and he said that before we p-planned the party.” I tried to help. Monokuma was probably planning something, but I don’t think it was what Jolly thought.

She didn’t look convinced, but started towards the dining hall anyway. “It doesn’t matter. We’re having that party whether Monokuma wants it or not.”

Blake nodded. “That’s the spirit!”

Jolly stormed off towards the dining hall, and left Blake, Jazz, and I at the wall.

He looked at us. “I really don’t know how she gets this angry in the morning. I’d be tired all day from that many negative thoughts before 10AM.”

I had no idea what Blake was talking about, so I just nodded. Even though I hoped for the opposite, it seemed the wall was having negative effects on people. It was just a wall. I told that to myself, but even I found it imposing. Not enough that I would want to kill someone, but it still made me uneasy.

The three of us moved to the dining hall. Zach and Jolly were sitting at the normal table. Her eyes were trained on her Monopad, while Zach was looking away from her. Something told me that she yelled at him.

When we entered the room, Zach’s head snapped towards us. “Hey guys!” He shouted from across the room with no regard for whether or not anyone else could hear him.

Blake didn’t seem phased, but I rushed over in an attempt to not draw attention to myself. “H-Hi.”

“How are  _ you _ guys doing this morning!” Jolly’s lip twitched as Zach talked, pretty much confirming my suspicions. 

“G-Good!” I tried to think of something to keep the conversation going. “D-Did everyone else get their s-swimsuits?”

Blake nodded excitedly. “Oh yeah! Monokuma managed to get some from my merch line.” He smiled. “I hope he bought some for himself as well.”

“Bears don’t wear clothing.” Jolly remarked.

Blake shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe whoever’s behind this bought some.” He shook his head. “Honestly should have asked me. I could have gotten him a good deal.”

He would have given Monokuma a deal? Why?

“Mine’s got blue clovers all over it!” Zach exclaimed. “It’s very me.”

“Mine’s all ripped!” The words sort of slipped out in a joking tone, and then suddenly everyone was looking at me.

Zach looked confused. “Really?”

“I… Uh.” I nodded. “Yeah. Just like my other clothes.”

“That’s bull.” Blake had a disapproving expression. “Why does Monokuma keep treating you like garbage?”

I shook my head. Really, I didn’t know. It was something I wanted to know as well.

Zach’s voice was serious. “I guess he’s not done with that stupid joke.” He frowned. “Sorry dude, I wish I had something to lend you.”

I raised my hands. “It’s okay. I’ll be fine. It’s really not that bad!”

This soured the mood of everyone at the table, besides Jolly who was already upset. I was just trying to talk about the party; I never meant to make people angry.

After a few minutes of silence, Lena shot through the entrance and sprinted towards the table. She tried to stop herself, but slid forward into the table. “Ow!” She laughed, and held her hand against the part of her body she hit. “Hello everyone! Hello!”

“H-Hi.” I wasn’t sure what to say. She looked fine though.

“Are you guys excited for the party today?” Lena didn’t even sit down, and just bounced around the edge of the table. “Monokuma left me an awesome swimsuit in my room!” She started to unzip her jumpsuit. “Look! I have it on right now!”

I instantly closed my eyes as she revealed what was under her suit. In retrospect, I don’t know why. I was going to see her wearing it later...

“That’s great, Lena.” Zach’s tone still had a bit of sadness from before. “I think he left something for everyone in their room.

When she pulled the zipper back up, I opened my eyes.

“Wouldn’t that be uncomfortable though?” Blake said.

“Nah!” She frowned. “Well, maybe a little! But it doesn’t matter. I’m ready to go!”

Jolly tapped hard against her tablet. “But the party is in a few hours.”

Lena laughed. “And in a few hours, I’ll be ready!”

“Whatever.” Jolly mumbled.

“I didn’t hear the announcement this morning.” Lena looked to Jolly and Blake. “Was there an issue or something?”

Jolly didn’t answer, but the look on her face told me that she was still upset about not being able to do her podcast.

“The wall blocked off the broadcasting station. Didn’t you see it this morning?” Blake answered quickly, probably trying to take the conversation away from that point.

“Ah, nah!” Lena spun around. “Must have not seen it! That really sucks!”

“Yep.” Blake nodded.

Zach stood up. “Lena did bring up a good point. We still need to tell everyone about today.” He motioned to Lena. “Wanna go around and tell everyone?”

Lena nodded quickly, and they walked off.

There was silence after that. Lena and Zach had been mostly pushing the conversations. Not like there was even much to talk about.

A few minutes later, Jolly looked up from her Monopad. “I know this is a dull topic, but we’re going to have to think up a plan for tomorrow.” Her voice still carried an upset tone, but I think she was cooling down.

“What's tomorrow?” Blake asked.

She put her Monopad in the middle of the table and showed a map of the outside. Jolly drew a line with her finger, representing the wall. “One day after it was put in the school, the wall moved forward. We have no idea how far it will move tomorrow, but it’s possible we will lose access to the dorms.” She tilted her head. “Tomorrow or the day after.”

I looked at the screen and remembered Monokuma’s words. “See how calm you are when you lose your precious dorms.” Jolly, Blake, and Jazz looked at me. His words were foreboding but accurate.

“Exactly.” She frowned. “We’re going to lose our rooms, and we will have to live inside the school. We need a plan  _ before _ that happens.”

I nodded, wondering what we could even do. All of us sleeping in the school? There was no protection like we had with our rooms.  _ If someone wanted to…  _ I quickly pushed those thoughts out of my head. I knew no one would kill.

“I don’t have any good ideas, but I’ll think about it.” She started to tap on her device again. “I would definitely suggest everyone sleeping in the same room. That would make it more difficult for someone to kill someone else.”

Blake had a dark expression. “You don’t think...?”

Jolly shook her head. “We have to prepare for the possibilities.” Her eyes moved past me to the back of the room. “Especially with someone like Jake around.”

I wanted to say something, but I knew I couldn’t. Jake wanted to keep everything a secret. He said it was the only way. Sadly, I couldn’t say anything.

“Yeah.” Jazz growled. “That shithead has probably been waiting for something like this. Everyone out in the open. Defenseless.”

“It’s a good opportunity and probably the reason why Monokuma thought up this motive.” She began typing. “Sleeping together makes it impossible for someone to kill someone else without the group noticing. From there, we just have to keep a close eye on everyone. The school is large enough that you could still kill someone with everyone else inside.”

It was a morbid thought, but Jolly wasn’t wrong. Once again, the school was working against us. It was almost like the entire thing was created for the purpose of the game. Every piece just worked so well to facilitate the game.

“But today, we can focus on the party.” Jolly sighed. “We’ll have a lot of time to talk about it tomorrow.”

I wondered how everyone would react. It had been awhile since we last agreed on anything. There was a possibility not everyone would agree.

After a few more minutes, Zach and Lena walked back and took seats at the table.

“Alright, we told everyone.” Zach smiled. “Now we just wait and see who shows up.”

“Yeah!” Lena cheered.

“I wonder if Monokuma was able to get anything we asked for.” Jolly frowned. “The entire thing would be ruined if he was lying.”

“That’s why we’re going early!” Zach shrugged. “Nothing to worry about.”

“We should head over soon. Just to be sure.” Jolly was still apprehensive. How could you blame her? Most of our party was based on whether or not Monokuma was going to help us. Relying on him wasn’t a great idea.

“Sure. Sure.” Zach pushed back into his chair. “But there’s no rush. We’ll have plenty of time later.”

“Did people seem like they wanted to go?” I would see later, but I was curious.

Lena nodded furiously. “Yep!”

Zach agreed. “Seeing that Monokuma put out swimsuits for everyone, a few people were actually going to head to the pool on their own.” He smiled. “And a few people were grumpy, but I’m sure they'll show up anyway.”

That was nice to hear. If nothing else, hopefully this party would calm some people’s nerves. I knew the wall moving closer would freak people out. Access to the dorms was something we had all become accustomed to. The party was our last chance at relaxation before Monokuma really started pushing his motive.

We stayed at the table and talked for awhile. As Zach said, we were in no rush. Even with all the stress of the killing game, I never missed the moments like those. Nothing crazy. Just talking with friends.

  
  


~~~

  
  


Eventually an hour or two had gone by, and we were encroaching closer towards the time of the party. Even though Zach seemed confident, we still needed to check to see if Monokuma actually did what he said he would.

We moved to the pool just to make sure everything was ready, and to our surprise, it looked amazing. There were more tables set up towards the wall for people to sit at. Where Zach had set up his drink station, there were a few seltzer machines. It looked like Monokuma had actually pulled through.

“Ooo!” Zach sprinted over to the table and inspected what Monokuma left for him. The machine’s weren’t that large. They just had a glass bottle connected to it with a nozzle on the inside.

Zach immediately grabbed two of the flavor vials, and put some into the glass bottle. When he pushed it back into place, fizzy water shot from the nozzle into the container. After filling all the way up, there was a blue-ish liquid on the inside.

He grabbed a cup off the table, and then poured some of the drink into the cup. “Mmm, delicious!”

The table had three of those machines, as well as a large assortment of cups. Zach seemed to be more than happy.

Jolly was towards the back of the room, and was inspecting the tables. There were two large picnic tables next to each other.

“Looks like each table can fit from six to eight people.” She tapped her Monopad. “It’s a good secondary option for people who don’t want to eat by the pool.”

The door to the pool opened, and Monokuma strolled in pulling a barbeque behind him. Without looking at us, he pulled it in between the tables and the drink stand.

“You aren’t actually going to do that in here, are you?” Jolly had a skeptical look on her face.

Monokuma slowly turned to her. “Why not?”

“The smoke for one.” She frowned. “Isn’t that some sort of hazard to be producing smoke in doors?”

Monokuma shook his head. “That’s why I opened a window!” He pointed upwards with his paw, showing that the glass above the building was all opened up. “Besides! The smell of the barbeque is a necessity to enjoy a pool party!”

“Fine.” Jolly walked towards the supply room with a sour look on her face.

I walked over to Monokuma, who was still prepping the barbeque. “What are you going to make?”

He poured some charcoal into the bottom of the container. “Only the essentials! You know, chicken, steak, ribs, hamburgers, corn. All the good stuff!”

“A-And you know how to cook?” It was a weird question, but it was also hard to believe that Monokuma could cook. 

“Of course I can!” He looked down at the ground. His voice changed to a sadder tone. “I’ll let you know I can cook better than anyone here!”

“S-Sorry. It just seemed weird.”

“What’s weird?” He looked up with his red eye glowing. “Is it because I’m a bear? 

“Y-Yeah…”

“Hmp. I never thought you of all people would look down on someone for being an animal!”

His words caught me by surprise and railroaded my thoughts.  _ What is he saying? He knows? Of course he knows. Did anyone hear?  _ I looked around, and saw everyone out of ear shot. Along with that, no one was looking at me.

“Really keeping that a secret, eh?” He shook his head. “I thought for sure you would’ve told Jakey boy!” He tilted his head. “And even after that I thought Jazz was a sure thing!”

I looked down. My face started to heat up. “I-I…”

“I’m not rushin’ you, kid! Just giving my opinion.” He leaned closer to me. “I hope you’ve been paying attention to that calendar.”

I nodded, the timeline appearing in my head.  _ Tomorrow _ . “I-It’s tomorrow…”

He nodded. “I knew you’d keep a good track of it!” He placed his paw in front of his mouth and giggled. “Not like it really matters to me.”

“I-I’ve got to go.” I started to slowly back away from Monokuma. He just stared at me. I took that as an invitation to leave, and moved over to where Jazz was standing. She was right next to the drink stand, and was just watching Zach mess around with the seltzer machines.

“H-Hi.” I tried to look calm, but Monokuma’s words definitely unsettled me.

“Hey.” She looked down at me and squinted. “Are you alright?”

“Y-Yeah!” I looked away from her gaze. “J-Just being around Monokuma makes me nervous!”

Her eyes moved off me and went over to Monokuma. “Ugh. Why does he always have to insert himself into everything?” She kicked the ground. “Is it so hard to leave us alone?”

I didn’t know how to respond. I’m sure he didn’t need to be around us, but something about the way he acted made it seem like he enjoyed it. Not like that was a good thing. It was incredibly creepy.

Jolly inched out of the stock room, with her eyes on Monokuma. Upon still seeing him here, she sighed and walked out.

“Are we all done here?” Jazz asked.

Jolly surveyed the room. To me it looked good. Zach had his drink thing, Monokuma had food, and the pool was already set up. All we had to do was wait for people to show up.

“It looks great!” Lena shouted from the other side of the room. She was seemingly playing with the water from the edge of the pool. I didn’t know why she didn’t just go in. I don’t think anyone would have had a problem with it.

Blake gave a thumbs up from one of the chairs, and Jolly nodded. “It looks like we’re all set here. Monokuma should be able to finish up on his own.” She started walking towards the exit, but Monokuma shouted.

“Wait!” He looked around. “I seem to have forgotten the plates! Someone will have to go get some from the cafeteria.” 

Jolly turned around with a sneer. “You should be able to do it. You are the headmaster after all.”

“But if I get the plates, I might not be ready for the party.” Monokuma whined. “I wouldn’t want to risk it.”

Jolly sighed. “Do we really ha--”

“It’s okay!” Monokuma looked down sadly. “I’ll do my best. Hopefully the whole thing doesn’t get ruined.” 

“I--” Jolly frowned. “Fine, I’ll go and get your stupid plates.”

“I-I can get them…” I didn’t want Jolly to be upset, and it seemed like that’s what Monokuma was trying to do. 

Jolly looked over to me and shrugged. “Okay. Thanks Kai.”

My eyes moved over to Monokuma, who was now staring directly at me. “Oh, Kai. Always thinking of others! What a good kid.”

Jolly moved out of the pool, and I looked to Jazz. “W-Want to go with me?”

She nodded. “Sure. Got nothing better to do.”

I nodded, and we headed towards the dining hall. There was a whole area for plates in the kitchen, so we just had to grab enough for everyone.

The dining hall was mostly empty, but there were two people sitting directly in the center of the room. Elizabeth and Max were seemingly arguing about something.

“Come  _ on! _ ” Elizabeth groaned. “It would be fun.”

Max was looking down at the table. “I doubt that.” She frowned. “We need to be focusing on the motive. There’s  _ no time _ for parties.”

Jazz and I moved quietly through the room, hoping not to catch their attention. Sadly, that was impossible.

“Kai!” Elizabeth shouted. She waved to me from the center table. “Come over here!”

We moved a few feet from the table. “H-Hi.”

“Sit down!” She smacked the table lightly. “Don’t be shy!”

“Do we have to?” Jazz shot off immediately. 

“Yes!” Elizabeth smiled. “Or you could leave, and just Kai could sit!” She nodded. “I like that idea better, actually.”

Jazz slammed down into one of the seats, and pulled me into the one next to her.

She gave Jazz a look, but then turned to me. “So, Kai. I was just telling Max that we  _ have  _ to go to the party today. Am I right?”

I looked to Max, who still had her gaze on the table.

“Uh… It should be f-fun…”

“ _ Fun _ .” Max mumbled. “Great.”

“Come on, Max! We all need a bit of fun!” Elizabeth shook Max’s shoulder, but she didn’t react.

“You know.” Jazz smiled. “You guys don’t have to come. Max could be right.” 

Elizabeth gave her another stare. “Kai, tell Max how great it’s going to be.”

I didn’t like how this was going. Max obviously wanted nothing to do with the party, so why didn’t Elizabeth just let her do her own thing? Nobody  _ had  _ to go to it. Even with those thoughts, I spoke anyway. “W-Well. There’s a s-soda stand…”

“I don’t like soda.” Max stated firmly.

“I-I…” I wasn’t sure what to say to that.  _ Don’t come, then. If you don’t want to come. Don’t. _

“ _ Max! _ ” Elizabeth laughed. “He doesn’t know that!”

“I’m just saying.”

“W-Well. M-Monokuma is c-cooking barbeque... “

“What?!” Max shouted. Her head whipped upwards. “Monokuma is going to be at the party? Why? Who allowed this?”

My hands started to shake. “I-I-I…”

“This is why I said we shouldn’t have a stupid party!” Max placed her hand on her forehead. “He’s trying to  _ kill  _ us. There is currently a motive out there to push someone to kill, and we’re just letting him do whatever he wants!”

Elizabeth didn’t say anything, and instead slinked down into her chair. Her previously happy face morphed into a sad one.

“S-Sorry.” I looked down at the table. “We’re not trying to ignore the motive. We just think Monokuma is trying to freak everyone out…”

Max calmed down and looked at me. “What?”

“T-The walls are there to make us feel closed in, so everyone thought we should have a party to drive up morale…”

Max opened her mouth, and then frowned. She tilted her head. “Oh.”

“Y-You should come to the party. Jolly thinks that t-tomorrow the walls might close us into the school. She was hoping to give everyone today and then have tomorrow to talk about the plan for the rest of the motive.”

Max pushed into the back of her chair and sighed. “She’s right. I let the motive get to me.” Max nodded. “We’ll be there.”

“Yay!” Elizabeth threw her arms up.

“Yay.” Jazz grumbled.

I slowly got up from my chair. “W-Well, we were just getting plates for the party. We’ll see you there.” I pulled Jazz into the kitchen, and took a deep breath.

“Those two really are the worst.” She started opening cabinets in an attempt to find the plates.

I didn't hate them, but it always felt difficult to work with them. It didn’t help that Max was so loud. Talking to her always seemed impossible. But part of me was happy that they were going. I hoped the party was able to cool everyone down. I was sure that Max wasn’t the only person starting to lose it. 

We found the plates and walked them back to the pool. Monokuma was lounging in one of the recliners when we arrived.

“Gosh. Took you two long enough.” He sat upwards. “Did you get lost or something? You know there’s a map on your Monopad, right?”

My face started to heat up. “Max and Elizabeth wanted to talk…”

“You should have told them you were on a very special mission from the headmaster!” He shook his head. “Whatever. Thank you for retrieving the plates.”

He gestured for us to leave. “You two might as well get ready. People will be showing up soon.”

Monokuma continued to work over by his station, so Jazz and I made our way to the dorms.

We each went off into our rooms, and I looked at my swimsuit again. It wasn’t that I thought it was going to be fixed. I think part of me just wished it wasn’t as bad as I remembered. It didn’t matter; it was the only thing I had. I put on both the pants and the shirt.

They were both uncomfortable, but the pants were extremely uncomfortable. There was a mesh netting on the inside, and I really wasn’t a fan. Monokuma had left it out for me, so it was probably normal. I didn’t have anything to compare it to.

I looked around the room, not sure whether there was anything else I needed to do. I obviously didn’t remember ever having gone to a pool party before. Jolly probably would have mentioned it if there was anything else.

Not wanting to waste any more time, I walked out of my room. Jazz wasn’t out yet, so I surveyed the dorms. It was quiet. Part of me expected to see someone walking through the entrance. But no one did.

After a minute or two of staring into empty space, the door behind me opened.

“So, what do you think?” 

From her tone, I could tell Jazz was in a good mood. I turned around to see her, and my face immediately started to warm up. Her swimsuit was in two pieces, and shared a similar color scheme to her regular outfit. The issue was that it barely covered her body.

I looked down at the floor. Something in my brain was telling me that I shouldn’t be looking at her.

“What?” She looked down at herself. Her tone immediately shifted. “Is it bad?’

I went to look up, but stopped myself. “No! It looks good. I just…” I didn’t know what to say. It was embarrassing.

Jazz tilted her head. “What?”

“I-I… It’s a bit…revealing.”

She laughed. “Aww… See something you like?”

My face heated up even more. It felt like it was on fire. “I-I…”

Jazz walked forward and rubbed my hair. “Have you ever been to a pool before?”

I shook my head. “I-I don’t know.”

She nodded. “Oh. This is normal.” Jazz pointed at her suit and smiled. 

I was even more embarrassed. Not having my memories made things really difficult. Some things were easy, while other things felt alien.

“Don’t worry about it!” We started walking down the steps of the dorms. “Pools are great, but the beach is  _ way  _ better. Do you know if you’ve been to one?”

I shook my head again. I knew what a beach was, but I didn’t think I had even been to one.

Jazz frowned. “Now that is sad! My parents used to bring me…” She trailed off.

“That’s nice.” I tried to think about my parents, but there was nothing there. Even if they existed, I didn’t remember. “What do you like about the beach?”

Her eyes started to glow. “Well, we usually went during the summer. It was always so warm!” She nodded. “I wasn’t a big fan of sand. It really sticks to you and sometimes gets really hot, but I would just lay down a towel.” Jazz went to move her headphones, but she must have left them in her room. “I would just relax and listen to music. It was always super peaceful.”

I nodded. The entire thing sounded really nice. Maybe it was the anxiety of the killing game, but a nice relaxing day seemed incredible. And if Jazz liked it, I’m sure the beach was really great.

We arrived at the pool, and the others were already there. Zach was shirtless and already behind the drink stand. He looked busy mixing something, but there was nobody there. Blake was in his regular place in one of the chairs. The only difference is he was now wearing a swimsuit with the same snake symbol as his other clothes. Jolly was still in her regular clothes and was talking to Monokuma. He was wearing a chef’s hat, which was distracting.

Lena was already in the pool swimming. Her suit was dark blue, but was in one piece as opposed to Jazz’s two. Upon seeing us come in, she stopped swimming and waved for us to come over. She dove under the water and swam to the side of the pool as we got there. 

“Hey guys!”

“Hi, Lena.”

She looked down at the water. “Isn’t this great?”

I nodded. “Looks good.”

Lena shook her head. “Forget how it looks! Get in here!”

I looked down at the pool, and an uneasy feeling formed in my stomach. “I don’t know. Nobody’s even here yet…”

She laughed. “Perfect time to get some solo swimming in!”

“I’ll swim later. Okay?” That seemed like the best option. No point in swimming  _ before  _ the pool party.

“Suit yourself!” She spun backwards and pushed herself off the wall of the pool. Lena shot underwater towards the diving board side of the pool and then began to swim.

“Do you think she’s a robot?”

I looked to Jazz in shock. “What?”

“Like. If Monokuma is a robot thing. Do you think she could be a robot too?”

I tried to decide if Jazz was serious or not. “No…”

She frowned. “I just don’t understand how she has that much energy. Watching her move makes me tired.”

I shrugged. Jazz and I made our way over towards Blake and Jolly.

“Hi, Blake.”

He almost looked asleep. I wouldn’t have been able to tell, because he was now wearing a pair of sunglasses with his symbol on it. Blake stirred, and then gave us a wave. “Hey Kai and Jazz.”

“You seem to be enjoying yourself.” Jazz’s tone was sort of sarcastic, but I don’t think Blake noticed.

“Oh yeah, just getting some rays.”

She raised her eyebrow and looked at me.

“Uh, Blake. You’re in the shade.” He had to have known that…

He nodded. “Oh yeah, just getting some shade.”

“Oh, cool.” We left him alone and walked over to Jolly. She was talking to Monokuma, but I don’t think he was listening.

“Are we going to provide a menu? How will people know what there is to eat?” Monokuma was stoking the coals under the grill and didn’t answer. “I just don’t want to create any confusion. People are going to ask.”

He continued to just poke around under the barbeque. Jolly waited for a second, but then stormed off.

“W-Why were you ignoring her?” I tilted my head to see if Monokuma was staring at something, but it didn’t look like anything was going on.

He turned to us and sighed. “All she does is ask questions. It’s very  _ annoying. _ ”

“I-I think she’s just trying to make sure everything goes smoothly.”

“Nag. Nag. Nag! It’s all you brats do!” He started poking the coals again. “You’d think the headmaster of this academy would get a bit of respect!”

“Sorry.” I said in a low voice. Not wanting to hear any more, Jazz and I walked over to Zach. He was sipping on one of his concoctions and gave us a nod.

“Kai, Jazz. Good to see you!” He waved his hand over the bottles of syrup in front of him. “What can I get you on this fine evening?”

I surveyed the options, as I was a bit interested. I knew it wouldn’t taste bad as long as I chose a good combination. “Do you think mixing orange and pineapple would be good? I-Is that even allowed?” I don’t really remember what those taste like, but I assumed that things with similar colors would taste good together.

Zach smirked. “For you? Absolutely.” He snatched the two vials off the counter, and dripped a small amount of syrup into one of the tall glass cups. Zach then inserted it into one of the machines. Upon doing so, the nozzle shot liquid into the cup, and the whole mixture started to fizz. By the time it was done, there was a fizzy orange drink left inside. He moved it from the glass cup into a plastic cup, filled with ice, from the stack on the side. Then he dropped a straw into it, and finally garnished with a little umbrella. It was a nice touch.

“Your drink, sir.” He passed the cup to me, and I gave it a try.

It was wonderful. Of course I couldn’t tell how accurate it was to the fruits, but it  _ felt  _ like a good combination. The best way I could describe it was tropical. After my first taste, I took another deep sip from the straw.

“Did I do good?” Zach waited eagerly.

“Yeah!” I had drained almost half the cup by the time I answered. “It’s really good!”

He smiled wide. “Well, what can I say? It was probably good luck." He turned to Jazz. “Anything for you?”

Before she could answer, Jake stepped in front of her. “Ooo. This is great!”

Jazz looked like she wanted to throw him, but he quickly moved closer to me. “Do you think it would taste good if you mixed  _ all _ of the flavors?” Jake, who was still wearing his regular outfit, rested his arms on the table.

Zach frowned and scanned the flavors. “I’m not even trying that.”

“Aw, why not?”

“It’s going to taste bad…”

Jake shrugged. “Whatever. Can I get two parts strawberry, one part kiwi, and one part lemon?” He turned to me. “Trying to make an even better strawberry lemonade.”

“You’re early.” Jazz grumbled.

Jake turned to her with a smile. “Am I? Couldn’t be more than ten minutes early.”

She looked away from him. “Nice swimsuit.”

“Ah this?” He shrugged. “Not much of a swimmer. Decided I wouldn’t need one.” 

“It’s a pool party.”

“The pool part is optional, obviously.” Zach handed Jake his drink, and he took a long sip. “Delicious! Kai, would you like to try it?”

I thought for a second.  _ If Jake likes it, then it’s probably good _ . “Sure.” The second I said that, Jazz’s face twisted into surprise. Had I said something wrong?

“He doesn’t want to try it.” She stated forcefully.

“Uh, I think he  _ does _ .” Jake took a step back to separate Jazz from me.

Jazz tried to step forward, but Jake pushed the straw at my face. They were both being weird, so I just took a quick sip. It was actually really great. The drink had a nice fruity flavor, but the added lemon really brought it to the next level.

“What do you think, Kai?” Jake smiled at me.

“It’s really good!”

“A lucky streak!” Zach added.

Jake stepped to the side and started walking away. “Well, I’ll see you guys later!” He then walked off towards the reclining chairs.

I looked back to Jazz, who was still upset. “D-Did I do something?”

She looked down. “How can you trust him after everything that’s happened? He wants to  _ kill  _ someone!”

Once again, I wanted to tell her. I wanted to tell her so bad. But I wanted Jake to trust me as well. I couldn’t just go around telling his secrets. “W-Well Zach made the drink, so I thought it was o-okay…”

“Yeah.” Zach leaned on the table in front of him. “It’s not that big of a deal. Jake doesn’t seem  _ that _ bad.”

Jazz’s gaze shot up towards Zach, and he quickly averted his eyes. Her tone had become a growl. “Am I the only one who remembers his letter? He was going to  _ kill  _ someone!”

Zach shrugged. What else could he say? Without what Jake told me that night, there was no way of seeing why his letter really said that. Just like for Wattson, there was an explanation for Jake as well. But I couldn’t tell Jazz that. 

“S-Sorry. I wasn’t thinking.” It hurt to lie to her, but keeping Jake’s secret was more important at the time.

Jazz sighed. “It’s fine. I just want to make sure nothing happens to you.”

“Thank you. I know you’re looking out for me”

Zach was back to learning on the table. “You two are great. Have I told you guys that?” He drew around us with his finger. “This whole thing is just great.”

My face started to heat up, and I think Jazz’s was as well. She grabbed my arm and started pulling me away from the stand.

He waved to us as we left. “Cya!”

Jazz pulled me over towards the storage room. I don’t think it was her intention, but Jolly was standing in front of it. She kept switching from looking down at her tablet, and looking around the room. Even though the party had pretty much started, she was still focused on getting things ready.

“H-Hey, Jolly.”

She looked up from her device. “Oh, hi. What are you two up to?”

I looked to Jazz, who dragged me over here, but she made it clear she wasn’t going to say anything. I took a quick look around the room. “Oh, just kinda walking around.”

Jolly nodded. “Makes sense. Nobody is here yet.” Her eyes narrowed. “Besides Jake.”

“We noticed.” Jazz grumbled.

“Sorry to hear that.” I followed her gaze and saw him sitting in a random recliner next to the pool. “At least he’s not causing too much trouble.”

When I looked back, I remembered that she wasn’t wearing a swimsuit. “Are you not going to go swimming today?”

She sighed. “If I have the time. I just want to make sure everything is ready before I relax.”

I tilted my head. “But you didn’t wear your suit.”

“It’s under here.” Jolly tapped her button-down. “Wore it under my clothes. Just in case.”

“Ah.” That was what Lena had done as well. I wondered if their suits were as uncomfortable as mine. I didn’t want to ask though.

“Is there anything else that needs to be done?” I thought we had finished preparing a while ago.

She shrugged. “I don’t think so, but you never know what issues might pop up when people start coming in.” Jolly looked up from her Monopad. “Speaking of.”

I turned towards the entrance to see Ralph, Violet, and Wattson walking through the door. Wattson and Ralph were both wearing what I expected, with Wattson having a black and yellow pants, and Ralph having a plain brown swimsuit.

Violet on the other hand had a full-body black and grey suit. Along with that, she was still wearing her mask. I couldn’t understand that, but I was sure she just liked wearing it.

Their group walked over to us, with general excitement. Or at least Wattson looked excited. “This is great, guys.” He nodded. “Honestly, not sure why I didn’t think of it myself!”

Violet pulled down her mask. “Yes. I’d been looking to take a dip at some point. This works out nicely.” She pulled it back up after talking. It made me wonder why she just didn’t leave it in her room.

Wattson pulled both of them towards the pool. He looked to Jazz and I as he moved. “Are you guys gonna swim too?”

“I-I… Uh. Later.” I nodded. “I’m not ready yet.” 

I looked at Jazz, and she nodded. “I’m fine to wait.”

“Sounds good!” Wattson dove into the pool. Ralph and Violet, on the other hand, walked calmly towards the stairs and slowly walked into the shallow section.

As those three started swimming, the other people began to trickle in. Morton shuffled in without a swimsuit. He stopped by Zach to get a drink, and then took one of the remaining chairs. Roselia came in with a red and white suit, and promptly moved over to one of the recliners. It looked like everyone was going to at least show up for a bit, which made me feel better. I didn’t want anyone to feel left out.

With people arriving, Monokuma started to actually cook. He had a cooler next to the grill that was seemingly filled with meat. He started throwing things onto the hot barbeque, and smoke started to fill the air. Like he said, it floated upwards towards the open window, with very little escaping out towards the rest of the pool.

The smell was harsh. Whenever someone of the smoke moved towards Jazz and I, and tried to quickly move out of the way. Something about it irritated my nose and started to give me a headache. But I guess that’s what barbeques were supposed to smell like. Maybe it was a good thing?

As promised, Max and Elizabeth finally showed up. Upon entering, Max’s eyes locked onto us, and she started to walk over. She was in her regular attire, so I guess that meant she wasn’t going to swim. Elizabeth, on the other hand, had an orange and black swimsuit with some sort of logo on it. I assumed it was probably her old school, or something like that.

“Hello.” Max said dryly. 

“H-Hi.” I responded, not sure if she was angry with me.

“Hi!” Elizabeth said with a smile and a happy demeanor. I noticed that her usually long hair was also tied up. Probably so she could swim more easily.

“Hi.” I said to Elizabeth as well.

Max looked around the room. “So, what are we supposed to be doing?”

I looked at her in a state of confusion.  _ What?  _ I just sat there in silence, unsure as to what I could respond with.

“Kai?” She asked.

I shook myself out of that daze. “Y-Yeah?”

“Is there something that we should be doing?” She asked.

After another second of processing, I tilted my head. “Y-You could swim, I guess? It doesn’t look like you b-brought a swimsuit though…”

She laughed. “I don’t need a special suit to swim. If I want to I’ll just go in my normal clothes.”

I was even more confused. “W-Won’t that make it difficult to move around?”

Her expression grew dark. “Are you trying to suggest that I can’t swim?”

“W-What? N-No!” Where did she get that impression? “I-I was just s-saying…”

“I’ll let you know, I would swim through the river near our house with logs strapped to my back.” She tugged lightly on her pants. “You think a little bit of denim is going to stop me from moving? Water is  _ nothing  _ to me.” She smirked. “If you can’t tell. I’m an  _ expert  _ swimmer.”

I nodded. “Y-Yes. I can t-tell.”

“Good.” She turned to Elizabeth with a determined look. “Actually, we’re going to go swimming  _ right now _ . Right?”

Elizabeth nodded. “Sure!”

Both of them moved off to the pool, and like she said, Max went in with her plaid shirt and jeans. Along with that her hair wasn’t even tied. Not that it was so long that it really needed it, but it just seemed like she was doing it to spite me. Not that it mattered.

“They suck so hard.” Jazz sighed. “Do you wanna sit down or something?”

That seemed like a good idea, especially since I didn’t feel like swimming yet. “Sure.” We walked over to one of the recliners, but was waved down by Roselia.

“Hello!” She waved from her chair for us to come over.

Jazz sighed again, but we walked over to her.

Naturally, Roselia looked upset. Why else would she want to talk to us?

“You two helped put together the party, correct?” 

I nodded.

Roselia sighed. “Well, I’ve been sitting here for  _ at least _ twenty minutes, and no one has offered to get me a drink!”

“It’s not that kind of party.” Jazz growled.

Roselia put up her hand. “Excuse me, I’m talking to this one.” She looked at me. “What kind of drinks do you have?”

“Listen!” Jazz took a step forward, but Roselia didn’t flinch. She just kept her hand up. 

Roselia closed her eyes. “Shh.” She looked back at me. “Drinks? Is there a menu of some kind?”

I shook my head. “W-We have a stand over there.” I pointed to Zach.

“Great.” She put her head back against the chair. “Get me something, will you?”

“We’re not your  _ fucking  _ servants!” Jazz’s voice started to get loud.

“Jazz, it’s okay. I’ll just get her something.”

“ _ No.  _ You’re not going to go around getting her shit.”

Roselia closed her eyes. “It sounds like he wants to.”

“Shut up!” Jazz’s voice was starting to draw attention from the other people at the party, and I didn’t want to cause a scene.

“P-Please, Jazz. I’ll just get her something. It’s okay.”

Jazz looked at me, and when she saw the look on my face, she stopped. “Fine.” She stormed off and dropped into one of the seats.

“Good boy.” Roselia said with a smile.

I ignored that, and went to get her a drink. But as I walked towards the stand, I realized it was a “create your own” kind of thing. “Uhh, you sort of make your own drink. There’s a bunch of flavors.”

She gestured for me to leave. “Just bring me something good.”

Instead of arguing, I just went over to Zach.

“Shouting during the pool party. Tsk Tsk.” He smiled. “Hope you’re not getting into trouble!”

I shook my head. “Roselia wants a drink.”

He immediately frowned. “And she sent you?”

I nodded.

“Ugh, what a b--” He stopped himself, and held an unhappy tone. “What does she want?”

I tilted my head.  _ What would Roselia like?  _ I had no idea. I wasn’t even knowledgeable about fruits or drinks. Jake’s was good. “Can I get what Jake got before? The Strawberry-Lemon thing?”

Zach nodded, and made me the drink.

“Do you want me to spit in it? I don’t mind.” He gave me a wide smile.

“N-No. Just the drink is fine.”

He shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

I took the finished drink over to Roselia, and served it to her.

“Excellent.” She took a sip, and made a face. “ _ Citrus _ …”

“S-Sorry…”

She took another sip, and then smacked her lips. “It’s very minor though. Is that strawberry I taste?”

I nodded.

“It’s good…” She paused. “Enough.”

“O-Okay…” 

She reclined back in her chair, and put the drink next to her.

“D-Do you need anything else?”

Roselia waved me away. “No, that should be alright. If I need you again I’ll call.”

“Okay…”

I slowly walked back to where Jazz was sitting. She had been watching the whole exchange. “I hope she fucking liked it at least.”

“N-Not really…”

Jazz froze for a second, and then punched the chair. “The  _ fuck  _ is with these people?”

I shook my head and took the chair next to her. For it being a party, I wasn’t really relaxing. But lying back in the chair was nice. It was like a bed, but less comfortable.

Overall, people seemed to be enjoying themselves. The pool was starting to get filled, and everyone else seemed to be sitting by the side. If nothing else, it was a non-stressful way for us to spend some time. We were a few days into Monokuma’s motive, and yet we were managing to have a relaxing party. I wondered how Monokuma felt about that.

Jazz and I sat in our chairs for a while, just doing nothing. Sometimes I forgot how great it was to just sit back and relax.

Monokuma called from his station. “Come and get it!”

A few people got up, but a bunch of people were slow to move. Jazz and I walked over, and grabbed a plate off the tables. Next to the grill, Monokuma had loads of different foods, just as he said. Chicken, hamburgers, steak, corn. Although I didn’t trust him, the food did look really good. And the smell was incredible...

I walked up, and Monokuma twirled his tongs. “Kai, my malnourished looking student! I think you need a big steak.” He took not a piece, but one of the  _ whole  _ steaks off the pile. Monokuma dropped it onto my plate. “Wink Wink.”

I took my seat and grabbed some utensils.  _ What was that supposed to mean? _ I shook it off, and stared down at the food. It looked really great. 

After Jazz took the seat next to me, other people started to sit down at the table. Jolly, Zach, and Blake sat down. They all looked down suspiciously at their food.

Monokuma said he wasn’t allowed to hurt us. It was in the rules after all. I cut a small piece off the steak and put it into my mouth. Everyone watched as I did it. The flavor was exceptional! It wasn’t just meat; it had a delicious smoky flavor. Along with that, it was juicy and tender. I didn’t have much experience, but I think that was the best food I had ever had in my life.

“He’s not dead.” Blake commented.

Jazz leaned towards me. “How was it?”

I quickly cut another piece. “So good! It’s so good!”

Jolly sighed. “Thank christ.” She started to slice off pieces of her chicken and eat it.

Everyone followed suit and started to eat the food that Monokuma had made for them. From what I could tell, everyone was enjoying it as well. Monokuma was just a good cook.

Zach finished his hot dog. “Wow, this  _ is  _ great!”

“Huh?” Monokuma stomped over to the table. “Of course it’s great!” He gestured to himself. “ _ I  _ made it after all!”

“You’re a robot bear.” Jolly took an angry bite. “Is it so weird that we would not expect you to know how to cook?”

“Hmpf.” Monokuma looked away from us. “I’ll let you know I went to culinary school for four years and was the head chef of my own restaurant for ten!” 

Blake shoved some steak into his mouth. He proceeded to talk while he chewed. “And I’m a time travelling butterfly.”

“Listen here you little brat!” Monokuma’s eye glowed. “The proof is in the food you’re currently eating! Tell me that it isn’t perfection!”

Blake frowned. “It’s good. I won’t lie.”

“Exactly!” Monokuma walked back to the grill. “I am a bear of honor! I don’t lie!”

I’m sure no one believed that. Even though he often seemed to tell the truth, it was impossible to trust him. He was keeping us locked inside the school after all…

While I was eating, I caught something out of the corner of my eye. Roselia was waving to me from across the pool. I slowly got up from my chair.

“Where are you going?” Jazz asked, her mouth full of food.

“Uh…”

Her eyes narrowed, and then moved over to where Roselia was sitting. “Just let her be. You’re in the middle of eating!”

“It will be quick…”

Jazz started gnawing on an ear of corn, and looked away.

I jogged over to Roselia, who wore a sneer. “Took you long enough.”

“S-Sorry…” I looked down at the floor. Something prompted me to not make eye contact. “Do you not want to eat with everyone else?”

She scoffed. “Ew. I could  _ never _ .”

“Oh…”

Roselia was just staring at me. “Well?”

“D-Did you want some food?”

“Of  _ course _ I wanted some food.” She shook her head. “Is there some sort of menu? God, I need to do  _ everything  _ around here.”

“S-Sorry, there isn’t.” Jolly knew someone would ask…

“Atrocious.” Roselia sighed. “FIne, tell me what there is verbally.”

“Uh…” I ran over what I saw in my head. “There’s hamburgers and h--”

“Disgusting. Is there  _ real  _ food?”

“I-I” I didn’t know what that meant. Did she mean like better quality? “T-There’s steak… It’s good.”

“I don’t  _ eat _ steak.” She shook her head. “Obviously.”

_ How was I supposed to know that?  _ “T-There was chicken, and I think I saw ribs…”

“What are the ribs made of?”

I had no idea. “S-Sorry, I don’t know.”

“God help me.” She shook her head. “Get me the chicken then. And is there no sort of side? Vegetables even?”

“C-Corn…”

“No thank you.”

“There might have been a salad?” I thought I saw one before.

“That sounds good. Chicken and some salad.” She gestured for me to leave. “Go.”

I quietly left, and moved over to Monokuma. Since I left, he had placed a large salad bowl on each of the tables. I grabbed some chicken, and piled a bit of salad onto the plate. Jazz’s eyes followed me the entire time I moved.

Even though I delivered the food to Roselia, she still had a sour expression on her face. “This  _ better  _ be good.”

“I--” I stopped, not wanting to be wrong. It was going to be good though.

She tasted the food, keeping her stern expression. But as she chewed, her look melted away. “Huh.”

“I-Is it good?”

She waved me away. “It’s fine. You may leave.”

As I got back to my seat, Wattson and Morton were handing their plates back to Monokuma. They stopped by our table.

“Thanks for the party guys!”

“No problem!” Zach smiled. “Are you leaving or something?”

Wattson nodded and gestured to Morton. “We were just stopping in.”

“The food was great, but we have to get back to work.” Morton gave off a warm smile.

“That sucks. It feels like the party just started.” Zach pouted.

Morton raised his hands up. “Sorry, I feel like we’re almost there. So close to making a breakthrough!”

“If it’s still going on when we’re done, maybe we’ll come back!” Wattson poked Morton. “How does that sound?”

Morton nodded. “Sounds good to me.”

The two of them left back towards the school. As they left, I noticed Ralph staring off at them. I moved over to the table Ralph and Violet were at. They were on one side, while Max and Elizabeth were on the other. Neither group seemed to be talking to each other.

“Hey.”

My greeting seemed to break Ralph’s gaze, and he turned to me. “Oh, hi Kai.”

“Too bad they had to go.” 

Ralph gritted his teeth and looked down. Violet’s eyes were on Ralph, and then she looked over to me. Without saying anything, she gestured to Ralph.

“D-Do you have a problem with Morton?” I think that’s what Violet was trying to tell me. Ralph had seemed upset that Wattson was spending a lot of time in his lab. I assumed the feeling was still there.

“Of course I do!” Ralph’s tone was more aggressive than I had ever heard it. He was upset. “They spent all day in that lab. He’s the ultimate hypnotist, shouldn’t he be done already?”

Violet pulled down her mask. “As I’ve said to Ralph, there’s a lot of things we do not understand about this place. The mastermind seems to be ahead of us in so many ways. Maybe Wattson is a difficult nut to crack.”

“It just doesn’t make sense though!” Ralph frowned. But didn’t continue. 

“S-Sorry, Ralph.” I tried to imagine the way he felt. “I don’t really have a good answer. All we can do is trust Wattson right now.”

“But what if he’s being tricked?”

I didn’t have a good answer for that. From what I saw, Morton didn’t seem like the person to do that. He mostly just seemed curious.

“Who’s getting tricked?!” Lena popped over my shoulder and began to drip water all over me. It didn’t really matter because I was wearing a swimsuit, but I still wish she hadn’t done it.

“No one.” Ralph frowned.

“Morton has been trying to find out what Wattson’s envelope meant.” Violet corrected. “Ralph thinks he is being...suspicious.”

“Ooo!” Lena nodded. “Why don’t you just burst into the lab while they are doing a session? Then you’ll catch him red handed!”

Ralph’s frown lifted for a second.

“That is not a good idea.” Violet said sternly.

“Y-Yeah. I d-don’t know…”

As Ralph and Violet started to argue, Lena dragged me away. “Kai, it’s later! Wanna swim?”

I didn’t see her at the table. “Have you eaten?”

She giggled. “I’m fine! Not even hungry! Swear!”

I shook my head. “You really should eat. Monokuma made some great food.”

Lena tilted her head. “I can always eat later, but I can’t always swim!” She looked down at the water. “Did I mention how great it felt?”

“Yeah.”

“Come on!” She dragged me towards the pool and pointed down at it. “The water is so nice!”

“Why don’t you wait until after everyone eats?” The hair on my body was starting to itch the closer I got to the water. Something in my brain was telling me I shouldn’t go in.

She pouted. “Everyone left to eat, and you looked like you were done. Swimming alone is so boring!”

“Lena, I think we should wait.”

She held tightly onto my arm. “Do you want to use the diving board instead? It’s super cool!”

“N-No…”

Lena sighed. “Fine. I guess we can wait.” She started walking towards the table.

I took a deep breath. I didn’t know what it was, but my body was just screaming to stay away from the water. Were Werewolves not allowed to go in water or something?

“JK!” Lena shouted from behind me. I felt her arms against my back, as I started to fly forward. My feet were off the ground, and the water began to fly toward my face.

I fit the pool with a smack, and started to slowly sink into the water. It was… amazing! The area around the pool was sort of warm, but the water was the perfect temperature. It was so cool and refreshing, like something I had never experienced before. I guess I hadn’t experienced it before.

I opened my eyes, and they started to lightly sting. It didn’t hurt, but it definitely was weird. My shirt and pants stuck to me as I moved my arms around. Whatever I did, it felt like I was gliding through the water. Maybe that was what Lena meant when she said it was like flying?

Even though it stung, I looked around. It was very dark under water, and I was still sinking. We were close to the diving board, so that section of the pool was pretty deep. I guessed so that was to make sure you wouldn’t hurt yourself.

Bubbles moved out of my mouth, and my throat started to feel weird. I was so dumb, I needed to breathe! Something about the feel of the water made me forget where I was. I moved my arms, and then realized why my body didn’t want me going in the water. I didn’t know how to swim.

I was almost at the bottom of the pool, but I needed air. I looked up, the surface seemed so far away.  _ What do I do?  _ I started to swing my arms and legs around, but I just moved in place. How do you float up? Was there like a trick to it?

My body thrashed in place, doing whatever it could to try and move. There was a pressure in my mouth. My body wanted to breathe. It wanted air so bad. I continued to thrash. I needed to get out. I needed to move up. But it wasn’t working. Why wasn’t it working?

I needed air… So I took a breath. Instead of the air I so desperately craved, water moved into my mouth and through my body. Just like my eyes, it started to sting on the inside too. The temperature of the water started to decrease. It was getting colder.  _ This isn’t right. What am I going to do? _ I tried to swing my arms, but they moved more slowly than before.

Even under so much stress, I started to relax. It was a bit cold, but the water was nice. It was like I was floating in the air. I didn’t need to breathe. There really wasn’t anything to worry about...

As I started to close my eyes, my feelings started to go away. It wasn’t completely gone. For instance I could feel some vibrations around me. Then arms grabbing me. Then my body moved. It really was an amazing experience. 

I heard drowned out sounds and felt a hard smack against my back. It didn’t feel as good as it did before. The feelings were faint, but I could feel someone on top of me. It was like they were feeling me all over, or maybe trying to hit me? Then there was something pressed against my mouth. Something soft.

After a few seconds, I gagged, and threw up to the side of me. I opened my eyes to see water flying out of my mouth and into the pool. Immediately, I took a massive breath. I tried to take in all the air my body needed, but it needed more. I kept breathing heavily and coughing. It felt like there was still water in my body. I wanted it out desperately. 

Everything was spinning; I was so dizzy. There were voices around me, but I couldn’t place them. Even with that dizziness, I looked forward. Jazz was getting off of me, and everyone at the party was standing in a circle around me.  _ What happened?  _ I tried to pull myself back into my surroundings.

Jazz turned around and started screaming. “You almost  _ fucking  _ killed him!” I tried to roll over to the side and saw Lena with wide eyes stumbling backwards.

“He told you he didn’t want to  _ fucking  _ go in the water! He  _ fucking  _ told you!” She kept walking towards her. “But you didn’t  _ fucking  _ listen, did you? You  _ never  _ listen!”

My body kept taking in air as the exchange went on.

“What? Were you going to let him drown?” Jazz stopped. “Say something! Stop  _ fucking  _ looking at me and  _ say something! _ ”

There was silence, and everyone at the pool just watched. Jazz clenched her fist. “If you ever go near him again, I will  _ fucking kill you _ .” Jazz turned around and pointed to everyone else. “I don’t give a fuck who sees. I’ll do it in front of everyone single one of them. Just know I’ll kill you. I do not give a fuck.”

Lena’s body shook, and she sprinted out the door. Jazz walked over with her eyes trained on me. She carried me in her arms and turned to the group. “We’re done here.” As we were leaving, I looked off at the group. Everyone stared at me in shock, with Jake being off to the side. He looked soaked, but that couldn’t have been right… I must have imagined it.

From there we moved out of the pool and towards the dorms. It all felt hazy. Before I knew it, we were at my door.

“Let me in you fuck!” Jazz screamed at the ceiling. “I don’t have his handbook!”

My door clicked open, and Jazz placed me lightly on the bed. She quickly grabbed a towel from the bathroom and tried to dry me.

“Monokuma!” She screamed again, and Monokuma walked out of my bathroom. “Yello!”

“Do you have like a blanket or something?” Jazz started tugging at my wet swimsuit. “Something to dry him off?”

Monokuma tilted his head. “ _ Maybe _ .” 

Jazz jumped up and went to grab Monokuma.

“Hey! You aren’t allowed to harm the headmaster!” 

“I don’t care! Do you have blankets or not?”

Monokuma stared at her. He silently went back into the bathroom, and came back with multiple blankets piled on top of each other.

She snatched them, and started to pull off my clothes. I couldn’t stop her, or even protest. Everything felt off. I was still cold.

Soon I was naked, wrapped in all of the blankets Monokuma had brought. We sat there for a while, but eventually my eyes started to close. I just needed a nap.

  
  


~~~

  
  


I opened my eyes and yawned. From a glance at the window, it was still dark out. I got up anyway. My body sort of carried itself. It wasn’t like I couldn’t move, more just that I wanted to move.

It was quiet when I left the room. I guess it was nighttime, so nobody  _ would  _ have been around. It still was just a super weird feeling. Once again, my body pushed me to go down the steps. I wanted to go outside. What was out there? Why did I  _ want  _ to?

When I pushed open the door, the cold nighttime air moved against my legs. It was a bit too much for me, but I kept going anyway. I stood in the center of the path, looking at the school. What was the point? What was out there?

The shadow of the wall was there, for one thing. It towered over me and almost reached the school. It had been such a crazy day, that I had almost forgotten about the motive. But now it was my main focus. The wall was moving.

Not forward, but  _ backward _ . The world began to brighten, and the shadow of the wall started to recede. I turned around, wondering what could be causing it. Was it the sun?

Slowly, a bright white object began to rise above the wall.

It wasn’t the sun.

It was the full moon.

The hair on my body started to stick up, and the itch returned in full force. Immediately I was crippled and dropped to the ground. The itch grew and grew, as the hair on my body began to lengthen and thicken. 

_ Help.  _

I looked over at the dorms.  _ Help _ . I was too late. I didn’t lock myself away. Everyone was in danger. As I bathed in the light, I started to lose consciousness. It was too late.  _ No. No. No! Help! _

My body shook, and I opened my eyes. Jazz was standing over me with a concerned expression. I was soaked with sweat.  _ It was a dream. The full moon is tonight... _

“What’s wrong? What’s going on?” Her eyes looked unfocused. How long had she been there? I looked over to the curtains to tell. It looked barely night.

“I--” I swallowed. My throat was sore and dry. I cleared it. “C-Can I have w-water?”

She nodded, and dove over to my fridge. Jazz opened the bottle of water and put it up to my mouth. Instead of arguing, I took a long drink. It helped, but didn’t clear away the pain.

“It was j-just a bad dream…”

She took a deep breath and nodded. “Oh. You were shaking and calling for help…”

“Yeah…”

Jazz placed the water on the desk next to the bed. “You should go back to sleep.”

I started to get up, but she shot over to keep me in bed. I put my hand up. “I slept for a while, I’d rather walk around for a bit until the nighttime announcement.”

She tilted her head. “That was hours ago.”

My eyes fixated on the curtains again. “But it’s not even dark yet.”

Her eyes followed mine. Her voice was drawn out. “Oh. It’s probably morning.”

“Morning?!” I shot up, which made her even more concerned. “How long have I been asleep?”

She rubbed her eyes. “Since the pool.”

“And how long have you been here?”

“Since the pool.”

I started to take note of her current state. Rubbing her eyes, slowed speech. She looked exhausted. “Did you sleep?”

She nodded. “Yeah.”

“You look tired…” She wasn’t going to tell me that, though. “You should go get some sleep.”

Jazz stood up and shook her head. “I’m fine.” She tried to place some authority into her tone. It helped a little, but she sounded more angry than awake.

I knew there wasn’t going to be anything I could say to change her mind. But there was no point in going back to sleep.

“T-Thank you…”

She looked at me with a confused expression. “For?”

“S-Saving me…”

Jazz shook her head. “A-Anyone would have done it.” She turned away.

“I just… can't help but think I would have died there.” I sighed. “It’s my fault. I should have realized I couldn’t swim.”

She spun around. “ _ No.  _ It is  _ not  _ your fault!” Jazz had an awful look on her face. “You know who’s fault it is? Lena. She’s a  _ fucking  _ idiot.”

“I can’t blame her. She had no idea.”

“You almost  _ died _ !” Jazz looked down. “Kai… It’s a killing game. Not everyone is out for your best interests.”

Her words blindsided me. Was she trying to suggest…? “Are you trying to say that she did it on purpose?”

Jazz didn’t look up. She waited for a minute, and then responded quietly. “She didn’t jump in to save you.”

“Maybe she was in shock? Who else tried besides you?”

She turned to the left and kept her quiet tone. “No one.”

“Lena wouldn’t do that.” I shook my head. “Besides, she didn’t know I couldn’t swim!”

“It doesn’t matter!” Jazz’s quiet tone went away. “Even if she wasn't trying to, they still might want to hurt you! “You can’t keep trusting people!”

I shook my head. “We have to trust each other if we want to get out of here!”

Jazz finally looked up. Her face was red, and it looked like she was about to cry. “I don’t want to lose you!”

I was stunned and sat in my bed motionless.

“I almost lost you yesterday, and I can’t let it happen again!” She shook her head. “Some of these people want to hurt you, Kai! I can’t prove it, but they want to.”

We stared at each other for I don’t know how long. She cared about me. Jazz cared about me. I was so happy. I knew she did, but hearing her say it was just so much more.

  
  


_ Ding Dong Bing Bong _

  
  
  


We were both drawn away by the announcement.

  
  


_ Good morning students! It is now 7AM! As per usual, the dining hall and gym have opened! _

  
  


_ There was silence for a second. _

  
  


_ I know you all had tons of fun yesterday, but now it’s back to reality! The wall doesn’t go away when you stop thinking about it.  _

_ So, have a wonderful day! _

  
  


He cackled into the microphone before it shut off.

Jazz walked to the door. “I’m going to get ready for the morning.” Her back was facing me. “I’ll see you in a bit.” She quickly left the room, and all the happy feeling melted away.

I should have said something. She said she cared about me and all I did was sit there like a log! There was a pit in my stomach. I had messed up.

As I got ready for the day, I knew I had to make it up to her. I had to tell her that I felt the same way. I just had to find the right time.

After about twenty minutes, I met Jazz outside.

“Hi.” She gave me a smile.

“Hi.” 

“Are you feeling better?”

I nodded. My throat was a bit sore, but I knew that would go away with time. 

We moved outside the dorms, and were once again greeted with an ever closer wall. It moved forward at a diagonal, and cut off both the pool and the Veranda from our use. At that time, every single outside building besides the dorms was no longer accessible. 

“Good thing we had the party yesterday.” I wondered if Monokuma let us have that?

“Yeah.” Jazz’s voice was hollow.  _ I did almost drown. _

We walked the rest of the way in silence, and entered the dining hall. Zach and Blake were at our normal table, while Jolly was sitting with Max and Elizabeth at the center table.

“Thought you guys weren’t coming!” Zach called as we walked over.

“N-No… Was just getting ready…”

He nodded. “Are you okay?” He tilted his head. “After yesterday…”

“I’m feeling better!”

He smiled. “Good.”

Blake leaned forward as I sat down. “I have a lot of questions if you don’t mind.”

“Questions?”

He nodded. “You almost drowned! I’ve heard stories and stuff but I’ve never actually met someone who did. I wanna know if what people say is--” His eyes looked to my left and he stopped talking. “But you probably don’t want to talk about it. Hah…”

I shrugged. “I don’t really mind.”

He waved his arm. “Maybe another time. It’s better that you rest.”

I looked at Jazz, who’s head moved to the corner wall away from me.

“What’s Jolly doing?”

Blake sighed. “Talking strategy.”

“About the dorms?”

He nodded. “They are looking at Jolly’s plan and deciding on what should be done. I think they want to bring everyone into that at some point.”

“Should we be over there?”

Blake looked down, and Zach laughed. “We were hoping to stay over here for as long as we could.”

I nodded. “I guess we could eat and then go over there?”

“Good idea!” Zach shot up from his chair. “I’m gonna go grab some stuff.”

He raced off and brought back some assorted food from the kitchen. It wasn’t as good as what we had yesterday, but it was still very good. I hadn’t thought about the quality of the cooking in the school until what Monokuma said during the party. Was it really possible that he went to culinary school? It was more likely the mastermind did. That didn’t make much sense though.

We ate for around half an hour, and then made our way over to the center table. Zach and Blake were eating as slowly as possible. Even though talking to Max and Elizabeth was hard, I was interested to see what the plan was. It looked like we still had the dorms until tomorrow, so we had the whole day to plan things out.

Jolly gave us a nod as we took our seats and continued talking. “So, we've decided on the gym then?”

Max stared down at Jolly’s Monopad, which was in between them. It had the map of the school open. “Yeah.”

“For what?” Zach asked. He peered over Jolly’s shoulder to get a better look.

“Where everyone will be sleeping.” She tapped around the map, looking at each of the rooms. “It’s the largest room in the school, so it makes sense to choose that.”

I was confused. How could we sleep in the gym? “I-I thought the gym was closed at night…”

Jolly looked off to Max for a second, and then slammed her fist on the table. “God dammit!” She placed her head into her hands. “I’m an idiot.”

Max held a defeated expression as well. I guessed that they forgot. “W-Why don’t we just use the observatory?”

Jolly’s head shot up, and she started to move through her Monopad. “Recliners, and an elevator that people would have to use to get in and out. That’s actually perfect!”

Max nodded. “That should work. I remember the room being pretty large.”

“I-I think there are enough chairs for everyone. Jazz and I slept there last week.”

The eyes of the table focused on me. I looked to Jazz, who was off in space, then back at everyone else. “I-It was w-when I was going to e-e-epo-- S-Show Jake’s letter!” I looked at the table. “He would have w-waited for me in the dorms…”

Zach smirked. “We weren’t going to say anything.”

He wasn’t even trying to hide what he was thinking.

“My question is are we really having _ everyone _ in the same room?” Blake asked in a concerned tone.

Jolly sighed. “Yes, everyone.”

“Why?” Max narrowed her eyes.

“We don’t have time for this.” Jolly started scanning the observatory page. “Tomorrow we won’t have access to the dorms anymore. We need to decide now.”

“No.” Max used her commanding tone. “I want to hear all objections before we get anywhere.”

Jolly put her face in her hands, and Blake looked down. “I just am not sure how comfortable I am sleeping in the same room as a few people.”

“Who.” Max answered quickly. 

Blake played with his hands. “Oh, nobody specific. Wouldn’t it make it easier for someone to kill one of us if we were all together?”

“We already thought of that.” Jolly groaned. “They would have to kill someone while everyone else was in the room. We’d know who did it instantly.”

Both Max’s and Elizabeth’s eyes shifted to behind us. When I started to turn around, I could just barely see a bit of Lena’s jumpsuit leaving the doorway.  _ Was she not eating…?  _ I wanted to tell myself otherwise, but I knew the real reason why she left. It was still fuzzy, but Jazz really ripped into her...

Max returned back to us and nodded. “Yes, what Jolly said. It’s safer to stay together. We want to lower the chances that someone will try something.”

“Yeah, true.” Blake had a small laugh.

“Now we can talk about the nighttime rule and the check-ins.” Max nodded. “I’d say we have a three hour watch cycle. We can come up with a schedule so it’s fair.”

Jolly looked up. “What?”

Max frowned. “We need more security measures than just sleeping in the same room.”

Jolly shook her head. “That’s not going to work. It’s going to be hard enough convincing everyone to  _ sleep _ in the same room.”

“What if someone decides not to?” Zach looked at us for a second, and then quickly shook his head. “I’m not saying I won’t!” He laughed. “Just wondering if you’ve thought through that.”

Max looked off at him unamused. “They will.”

Zach tilted his head. “You sure?”

“Yes.”

“We can’t force people.” Jolly corrected.

“We’ll have to.”

Jolly waved her hands. “Whatever, we’ll talk it out when we tell everyone the plan.” She stood up. “Which we should probably do now.”

“We’re not done.” Max gave her a stern look. “Monokuma said he would keep adding motives. If we don’t limit people’s access to the school, then something will eventually happen.”

Jolly rolled her eyes. “We can only do so much. As Zach said, people could not even agree to sleeping in the observatory.”

“I’m the leader here. They will listen to me.”

“You’re not the leader.” Jolly’s voice started to raise. “People don’t listen to you!”

“Guys.” Zach leaned in between them. “Why don’t we just open the discussion to everyone else? They have to agree anyway.”

“Fine.” Jolly slammed her chair into the table.

“Good idea.” Max stood up as well.

Together, at the same time, they started talking. “Everyone, we--” They both stopped and glared at each other. Then after a few seconds of staring, tried again. “Ever--”

“Stop.” Max stated.

Jolly sneered. “It was my plan. I’ll introduce it.”

“It’s fine. I can do it.”

Elizabeth, Zach, Blake, and I looked at each other as they bickered. The rest of the room also just watched, wondering what was going on.

After a minute of fighting, Jolly finally dropped into a chair. “Whatever! Just go!”

Max nodded. “As you all know, the wall has been moving closer every day. She started to pace. “It’s likely that tomorrow morning we will lose access to the dorms and be trapped in this school until someone dies.” She stopped and stared at everyone. “I’m not going to let that happen.”

“How?” Jake asked with a big smile on his face.

“There’s going to be some changes, starting tomorrow.” Max started to pace again. “We’ve decide--”

“Who’s we?” Jake interrupted. 

“Jolly and I.”

“Ooo.”

“So, the first rule we will be putting into place, is that everyone will sleep in the observatory.” Before Jake could say anything, she continued. “Jolly and I agree that it will be safest if we all stay in one place.”

Roselia raised her hand.

“Yes, Roselia.” Max called.

“No.”

Max actually looked taken aback. “What?”

“No, I will not be sleeping in the observatory with everyone else.” Roselia had her own commanding tone. I knew it well.

“It’s not going to be up for discussion.” Max kept a neutral expression. “We all need to cooperate if we want to keep order.”

“Actually.” Jake kept his smile. “I don’t think I want to stay in the observatory either.”

Roselia nodded. “I think I’ll sleep in the plane room. It should do fine.”

Morton piped up. “My lab is perfect for me! Besides, what would you sleep on in the observatory?”

Max kept a neutral expression. “The recliners.”

“A chair? I’d much rather the couch in my lab.” Morton frowned. “Besides, I have trouble sleeping without some sort of covering. Will there be blankets?”

“We can figure that out once everything is settled. Maybe Monokuma will give us things to help with this.”

“Nope!” Monokuma was sitting on top of our usual table, with a bucket of popcorn in front of himself. “You can’t ignore my motive and then ask me for something! Gosh, you kids are so ungrateful!”

Jolly stood up with a smirk on her face and walked next to Max. “Listen, we can’t force you to stay in the observatory.”

“We know!” Jake said cheerily. 

She took a deep breath. “But we will say that tensions will be high starting tomorrow. We can’t stop something from happening unless you work with us.”

“Yes, but I’m not sleeping in the observatory with everyone else.” Roselia gave Jolly a smile.

Jolly nodded. “Then you’ll die.” She didn’t add any more to that. It was potent enough on it’s own.

“I’m sorry?” Roselia’s smile twisted into a frown.

“You all seem to think that nothing is going to happen and that the motive is just going to go away.” Jolly paused. “It’s not, in fact Monokuma has said he will only add more motives onto the already existing one. It’s not  _ if _ there is going to be a murder, but  _ when _ .” She waited a second for anyone to state their opinion, but nobody did. “If you choose to put yourself in an unlocked room during the night, then you will probably die. I can tell you that we won’t die when we’re all in the same room.” She gestured to Max.

Jake leaned on his hand. “And you think Monokuma is just going to let us live in peace? Do you really think you can stop the game?”

“Yeah!” Monokuma shouted from the corner.

Jolly shook her head. “Nope. But I don’t have any better ideas. If you  _ do _ then feel free to offer them up.”

“I do.” Max declared loudly. “Sleeping in the observatory isn’t the only measure we will be taking. There will also be a curfew, and everyone will need to be in the observatory immediately after the nighttime announcement.”

Roselia got even more annoyed with every word.

“Along with that, we’ll have check-ins during the day. Every single person will be accounted for at least every three hours. And someone will have to keep watch during the night. I’ve said to Jolly that we would probably want three people taking three hour shifts.”

Wattson raised his hand. “Isn’t that a bit extreme?”

“No.” Max responded sternly. 

Jake got out of his seat. “Good luck with that. I like to take nighttime walks, so that doesn’t really work for me.”

Max narrowed her eyes. “This isn’t optional.”

Jake shrugged. “Make me.”

Without even a beat, Max responded. “I will. And that goes for anyone else who plans on breaking these rules.” She eyed everyone else. “There will  _ not  _ be another death in this school. These rules will be put into place, and anyone who disagrees will be restrained.”

_ Restrained? Can she do that?  _ It was scary, but I don’t think she was wrong. I didn’t want anyone else to die either. Those rules would definitely help to make sure that nothing bad happened.

Jake walked past her, but stopped at the entrance of the dining hall. “I guess I’ll see you at 10:01 tomrorow night.” He winked and left the room.

Jolly sighed. “Are we done?”

“We’re done.” Max looked off at everyone else. Nobody said anything, or tried to challenge her. It was for the best. I’m sure no one thought she was bluffing. Max was the kind of person to actually try it. Jake didn’t stand a chance.

From there, the dining hall started to clear out. Jolly left quickly after Jake, with Morton and Wattson leaving shortly after. 

Everyone sat around the center table in silence. What else was there to say? Even if you disagreed with her, arguing with Max was a waste of time. And my mind was on something else. I needed to find a way into my lab. Not only that, but I needed to do it without people knowing.

I racked my brain trying to think of ideas. If I tried to slip away, then it would just make people suspicious. I knew it would be difficult to get away from Jazz. Or so I thought... My eyes wandered over to her. She was staring off into space with a blank expression. Maybe she was exhausted. Jazz had to be.

“Well.” Zach stood up from his seat. “I’m going to take a look outside.”

“Why?” Max asked with her eyes on the table. She obviously wasn’t happy with how that all went.

“Who knows when I’ll be able to see it next? This could be the last time I have fresh air for awhile!” 

Blake nodded and stood up. “Good idea. Maybe I’ll record some of the last sunlight I’ll see.”

_ Aren’t there windows though? _

Those two left, and it was just Max, Elizabeth, Jazz, and I. It wasn’t the kind of situation I wanted to be in, but nobody seemed to be talking. Sometimes, it seemed like Elizabeth wanted to, but she never actually did.

But I didn’t have any good ideas as to how I should sneak off to my lab. Time was running out, and I would have had even more to explain if it got dark.  _ Sorry, if I go out there I’ll turn into a werewolf and kill you!  _ What would someone have even said in that situation? Who would have believed me…

After a while of thinking, Max stood up from her chair. “I’m going to start preparing for tomorrow.” She looked to Elizabeth, who sprung up with her.

I nodded, and they both left the room. As they left, I noticed Jazz, who was no longer staring at the wall. Her head was now planted into the table. She was asleep.

Instead of waking her, I decided to just let her sleep there. I was right to think she was exhausted, she must have had almost no sleep.

Part of me thought about running off for my lab then. No one was around, and no one would know where I went. At the same time, eventually Jazz would have woken up. When she did, she would have wondered where I went. I imagined that she wouldn’t stop until she found me. That plan was out.

I really needed to get to the lab close enough to night time that nobody would notice me missing. That would be difficult, as people may have wanted to walk with me to the dorms. These thoughts bounced around my head. I just didn’t know what the best idea was.

“Hmm?” Jazz lifted her head, and slowly scanned the room. “What time is it?”

“Uhh…” I looked around the room for a clock, and remembered there wasn’t one. “Not sure.”

She rubbed her eyes. “Where is everyone?”

“Well, Max and Elizabeth went to prepare for tomorrow. Zach and Blake went to go take some time outside, and I don’t know where anyone else is.”

Jazz nodded slowly. “Why are we here?”

“You were sleeping.”

She frowned and jolted upwards. “You should have woken me up! I’m perfectly fine!”

I know she was saying that, but she wasn’t fine. Nobody drops onto a table if they’re fully rested.

“We should go outside too! Or to the observatory. I don’t care!”

I got up with her. “Sure…” I didn’t really care either way. I could think no matter where we were.

“Where do you want to go?” She kept a loud tone. It seemed like she was trying to make herself sound energetic.

My mind flicked through the options. Go to the observatory and have Max boss me around, or walk around outside with Zach and Blake. The choice was extremely easy, and I was surprised Jazz was entertaining the idea of going to the observatory at all. “Outside… I guess?”

Jazz nodded furiously. “Sounds good to me!”

We moved to the main hallway. Even after the nap she took in the dining hall, I could tell she was still very tired. It wasn’t as much about the way she was moving, I could see it in her eyes. I wished she didn’t forgo sleep for me…

Coming outside, I was able to re-remember how close the wall was. It had been there for a few days, but was still jarring to look at. My eyes followed it upwards, and was relieved to see the sun still so high in the sky. I realized that the observatory was probably a safer bet, because I then had to think about the time. No matter what, we couldn’t stay outside for long.

Zach and Blake were sitting with their backs to the wall. Ralph and Violet were also there, although they were floating around nearby the dorms.

“I see you guys decided to join us in our final fresh air!” Even with everything going on, Zach kept a smile.

“Yep!” Jazz carried her energy from the dining hall outside.

“Good.” Blake smacked the wall behind him. “Join us on the wall.”

I titled my head. “W-What?”

Zach laughed. “If you lean against the wall, it’s pretty easy to pretend it’s not there.” He looked left and right. “I sure do love my wall-less academy! Do you see any walls Blake?”

Blake shook his head. “Only the walls of our fine academy, Zach!”

As goofy as it was, Jazz and I took places on the wall. It was actually a bit cold, as the sun was still on the opposite side. That was weird at first, but I quickly got used to it.

I looked off at the school, just as Zach and Blake had done.  _ It’s weird to think that this could by my last time outside. Maybe even for a while. If a murder didn’t happen, would we be stuck inside forever?  _ Although I should have been thinking about my lab, it became all I could think about. Monokuma wasn’t able to keep us there forever. I just knew he couldn’t. He was incredibly powerful, but he couldn’t do that.

The idea of staying in the academy forever was something that hardly crossed my mind. Maybe I was hoping that everything was still some kind of cruel joke, or maybe it was the fact that we hadn’t even been in the school for two weeks. But two weeks was already a crazy amount of time.

I couldn’t be sure, but other people had families. I reminded myself that those families would be looking for their kids. No. Monokuma couldn’t keep us in the school forever. Even if it took a while, I knew that someone would come and save us. I just had to make sure everyone survived until then…

We stayed against the wall for a long time. Everyone was now sitting on the ground as opposed to standing, but we were still on the wall. There’s not much of a rush when you might not come outside again. But I was starting to get worried. It wasn’t long since, but the sun had passed over the wall. The once visible shadow had now receded fully, and the full force of the sun was now beating onto the top of my head.

I couldn’t tell you how long, but I knew night time was coming. Even if I had an exact time, it wasn’t safe for me outside.

“We should probably go in.” I stood up and looked at everyone else. Zach and Blake seemed bored, and Jazz was still half asleep.

Blake shot up. “Yeah, I wonder what Jolly’s up to.”

“Probably with Max…” Zach winced. “Sad.”

“We could check on them.” I tried to not make it too obvious. “Make sure they aren’t fighting too much!”

Blake sighed. “Yeah.”

My plan worked, and after poking jazz, the four of us left towards the observatory. The clock was ticking. I needed a way to get away from everyone and sneak off into my lab. My plan was going to be just saying that I was tired, and wanted to go to bed. It wasn’t anything amazing, but I knew it could work.

Just as we thought, Jolly and Max were in the observatory. Although I didn’t think Roselia would be there as well.

“Why does my recliner have to be so close to everyone else's?” Roselia followed Jolly and Max throughout the room.

“It’s not yours! We haven’t decided who’s getting what yet!” Jolly’s voice carried across the observatory. It was obvious how stressed she was getting.

My eyes were focused on something else though. The roof was open. The whole point about coming inside was to get away from the moon. We walked through the room, and I went right for the controler. I pressed it, and the roof started to close, leaving the room with a purplish glow.

“Hey!” Max called over. “What are you doing?”

“I-I was s-shutting the roof… It’s a b-bit bright.”

Max groaned. “Fine.”

The room wasn’t too different from the last time I saw it. Half of the recliners had been moved from the center of the room and were put towards the back far away from the elevator. They weren’t close together exactly, but they were all in the same area.

“How is it going?” Zach dropped into one of the seats.

Jolly shook her head. “This room is fine, but it’s pretty much all we’re going to get. I spoke to Monokuma about buying blankets, but he said they would be two hundred and one Monocoins.” She sighed.

“Eh, Morton’s just a loser.” Blake jumped into one of the seats. “These are  _ perfect _ . I’m going to get so much sleep!”

Jolly tried to force a smile. “I hope so.”

“Why are you two sitting down?” Max stood over Zach with a dark smile. “You came here, so now you can help us move the rest of these chairs.”

Zach frowned. “Aww…”

That was why I didn’t want to go there, but it was better than turning into something… As a group, we moved the rest of the chairs into Max’s new locations. It was pretty much every chair in the back of the room, and one chair by the center table. That one chair was for whoever was going to be taking watch.

It wasn’t ideal, but sleeping in the observatory wasn’t too bad. Jazz and I had done it easily enough.

After everything was moved, we all took a seat at one of the booths on the side of the room. They weren’t as comfortable as the recliners, but if someone would have rather slept in one of those, I’m sure Max wouldn’t have minded.

“In terms of the watch.” Max turned to Jolly. “Write this down.”

Jolly rolled her eyes and started typing on her Monopad.

“I think we should have the first night be from this group.” She scanned us. “Putting someone like Jake or Roselia on watch is foolish at the moment.”

“Um.” Roselia’s lip twitched. “Excuse me?”

“Do you have something to say?” Max kept a neutral expression.

“Yes, I do.” Roselia stuck her chin out. “I came up here to  _ help _ , and now I’m getting treated like this?”

Max nodded. “I don’t trust you.” She looked back at the rest of us. “I’m fine with taking a watch every night. Nobody else has to do that, but as the leader I should.”

“Unnecessary.” Jolly continued typing.

“As the leader--”

“I-I’ll take a watch!” I raised my hand, feeling embarrassed that I interrupted Max.

She nodded. “Thank you, Kai.”

It wasn’t a big deal. I really didn't get a lot of sleep anyway. A few less hours wouldn’t kill me.

“Any other volunteers?” Max kept her usual expression, but I could tell she was drained as well.

“Me.” Jolly’s tone was broken at this point. As I noticed before, she was so obviously stressed about this whole situation. She typed her name into the Monopad.

Max nodded. “Now that we have that done, we should talk about check-ins.” She gestured to Jolly, who created a new line in her Monopad. “There will be one every three hours from 7AM to 10PM. Jolly and I will be in the dining hall during those times and will stay in there for  _ thirty minutes _ . If someone does not check in during those thirty minutes, we will split up. One of us will get people to search the school, while the other will wait in the dining hall.”

“What if someone isn’t near a clock at the time? Sometimes I lose track of time.” Roselia gave Max a soft smile.

“You get near one.” Max had an aggressive tone. “Each person gets three strikes. After three missed check-ins, you will be restrained in the observatory.”

“Is that all?” Jolly looked both emotionally and physically tired.

Max nodded. “We can discuss more regulations if they come up later.”

From there, we broke and went to the dining hall. Going through Max’s new rules had actually made me sleepy. Jazz fell asleep a few times during it, but nobody said anything.

Thankfully, we returned to our regular table and left Elizabeth and Max at their own. Max was coming up with good ideas, but being around her made me stressed. I think Jolly felt the same way.

After everything that had happened that day, we ate our meal in silence. Any attempt by Zach to start a conversation died pretty quickly. I don’t think any of us were really in the mood.

“Jazz, you look terrible.” Zach tried again, this time pointing out how exhausted Jazz looked. I was happy that someone else finally noticed.

“Huh?” Jazz shook herself out of a daze. “What?”

“You look terrible.” He wasn’t trying to joke around. Zach was being serious.

“Nah.”Jazz rubbed her eyes. “I’m good.”

“Did you not sleep yesterday?” Jolly tore off a piece of a roll on her plate. “You’ve been falling asleep the entire day.”

“I slept fine.” Jazz growled.

The entire group exchanged glances.

“Listen.” Jolly sighed. “Starting tomorrow, things are only going to get crazier in here. Go to bed. Take a long rest.” She lowered her head. “Today might be the last day we really get a chance to do that.”

Jazz tried to protest, but Zach and Blake started shooing her away. 

“Arg, fine.” She shot out of her chair. “I’m fine! But I’ll go.” With sluggish movements, Jazz walked out of the dining hall. I was happy to see it. She really needed the rest, and it pained me to see her like that.

I then realized the golden opportunity that I had just been presented with. Jazz was gone. I could head to my lab. Along with that, my excuse of being tired would probably work just as well after Jazz left.

I waited a few minutes to make sure Jazz wouldn’t see me and tried to force out a yawn.

Zach tilted his head. “You too?”

I nodded. “Yesterday was a lot…”

“Go.” He started to shoo me away. “You two are insane. Nobody is saying you can’t take a nap.”

I nodded again. “Yeah, I’ll see you guys tomorrow. Alright?”

The group nodded, and I left the dining hall. It was perfect. Better than I could have ever expected. Truthfully, I had lucked out.

Without wasting a second, I sprinted out of the dining hall. Before I could even move down the hallway, I ran into Lena.

She looked at me skeptically, with a bit of fear on her face. I knew she was avoiding me, but the idea that she was scared of me really hurt.

“H-Hi.” I tried to start a conversation in an attempt to smooth things over.

She kept her head towards the ground. “Hi…”

We stood there in silence, and I realized I was running out of time. I couldn’t stay there forever… “L-L--”

She cut me off. “Listen… I’m sorry about yesterday…” Lena shifted in place. “I understand if you hate me…”

_ What?  _ I tilted my head, not really understanding what she was trying to say. “Why would I hate you?”

Lena looked up at me. “I almost killed you…”

I shook my head. “But I don’t hate you!” I couldn’t believe she thought that way. “You’re my friend!”

Her expression soured, and she looked at me with a puzzled face. “You’re not upset?”

“No…”

“Not even a bit?” She prodded. 

“No.” I wasn’t sure how to make it any clearer.

Her confused look turned into a frown. “Okay.” She walked past me quickly. It almost sounded like  _ she _ was upset. Did she want me to be angry with her?

Instead of worrying about that, I raced over to my lab and pressed the key in. The door was just as creaky as last time, but it opened.

Finally, I was in my lab again. I looked over the horrific bloodstained room. Nothing had changed, of course. All I had to do was restrain myself and stay in there for the night.

My eyes were attracted to the ceiling. How could they not be. The looming full moon overhead was nauseating. Monokuma hadn’t already taunted me enough with everything else in this room? He had to put the moon overhead?

I looked around, hoping that there was something in there for me to do. But I knew better. There wasn’t. Instead of wasting time, I laid back against the restraining table in the center of my lab.

Upon placing my legs against it, the metal cuffs locked me into place. I couldn’t move them anymore. I was going to have to stay here until morning. At that point, it was too late to do anything else. I placed my arms against the wrist cuffs, and they too locked into place.

Naturally, the entire thing was uncomfortable. The table itself had a cushion backing, although it was old and frayed. If my body managed to touch one of the cuffs, I felt a sharp cold. The room wasn’t exactly warm, but it was still surprising how cold the metal was. 

For a while, I sat there. All I could do was stare off at the door. I couldn’t move, I couldn’t shout, I couldn’t do anything. Part of me wondered as to whether or not the entire thing was a lie. Maybe Monokuma had lied and the device wouldn’t open in the morning. Maybe I would die there.

Thoughts like that plagued my head, until finally, my eyes started to close. Maybe I was tired after all.

  
  


~~~

  
  


I awoke in the chair. Not too surprising. The problem was that my entire body was covered in hair. I had changed, but it wasn’t me. I didn’t feel like I was in my own body.

The me in the chair struggled against the cuffs. It growled and shook against it, trying to break free. At least Monokuma’s device worked as intended.

But then it pulled hard on one of the arms and there was a cracking noise. My heart skipped a beat, as it pulled on the cuffs again. Then  _ snap _ . The arm was broken free.

My heart started to beat quickly. It pulled at the other arm, now with the added strength from it’s free one. The cuff came off quicker that time. Now the legs. 

Soon, I was free. Monokuma had lied to me. It didn’t work. 

The me controlling my body smashed into the door with force. The door wasn’t as strong as the cuffs and pieces flew off of it with every hit. After barely a dozen hits, it smashed through. After only a few minutes, it had complete reign of the school.

_ No. No. No. This wasn’t supposed to happen. _

I watched helplessly as it dashed through the hallways, only stopping to smell the air. It tracked something and headed towards the main entrance.

Instead of doing the same thing that it did in my lab, the monster decided to go through the window. It barreled through the grounds of the school. The doors to the dormitory weren’t strong enough to keep it out.

_ You’re all in danger. Run. Please! Run! _

But I wasn’t saying anything. Nobody could hear me, and there was nothing I could do.

It stopped in the main entrance of the dorms and smelled the air. Was it looking for someone? After a few seconds, it started to sprint up the steps. It moved towards my room. But it went right past mine, and instead stopped in front of Jazz’s.

_ No. Not her. Please… _

It started to slam against her door. At first I thought it wasn’t doing any damage. Monokuma had made it clear that you needed a Monopad to get into one of the dorm doors. But then the pieces started to fly off, and the cracks started to form.

_ Stop! Stop! Please stop! _

But it kept going. It kept slamming into Jazz’s door. Each strike breaking it down more and more.

_ Stop! Stop! Stop! _

I tried to take control. I tried everything that I could. All I could do was watch.

_ Stop!  _

_ Stop!  _

_ Stop! _

I screamed and my eyes flew open. My entire body jolted forward, but was quickly thrown back by the cuffs of the chair.

  
  


_ Ding Dong Bing Bong _

  
  


I was covered in sweat and breathing heavily.  _ It was all just a dream. It was all just a dream. I’m okay. _ I wiped my forehead with my right hand and took a deep breath.

  
  


_ Good morning students! It is now 7AM! The dining hall and the gym are now open! _

  
  


My eyes widened, and I stared at my hand as the cuffs to the chair opened.

  
  


_ Forecast shows blue skies! Not a single cloud in the sky on this magnificent morning! _

  
  


I followed my hand to the restraining table, where the cuff that should be holding my right arm into place should have been. Instead, it was ripped to pieces and on the floor in front of me. My entire body shook. I had broken a piece of the restraints during the night. 

I stepped out of the chair, and looked at the scene around me. The door was still intact, along with the other three cuffs. I had only broken one of them. But I  _ had  _ broken one of them.  _ What would have happened if I wasn’t in my lab?  _ I didn't even want to think about it.

My shirt and shorts were sweaty, and I wondered whether or not I still had a chance to get to the dorms. Probably not, and it would have looked suspicious if I went to the dorms right after the announcement.

I sighed, and left my lab for the dining hall. Right as I was about to turn down the hallway by the gym, I could hear someone walking by. I froze, and put myself against the wall. If anyone saw me, they would wonder why I was over by my lab.

After a minute, the person had to have gone into the dining hall, and I started moving through the hallway. I knew I just had to go a bit further and I would have been in the clear. Nobody would have had to know I went to my lab. 

I started walking towards the dining hall, and all my stress started to melt away. I had done it. Nobody was hurt, and nobody knew I went to my lab.

Zach was sitting alone at our table. He must have been the person walking through the hallway.

“Hey.” He seemed a bit distracted.

“Hi!” I took the seat across from him, and he looked up at me.

“How’s it going?” He looked at me and then the entrance of the room.

“Good.” Maybe he didn’t sleep well.

“Cool. Cool.” 

“Are you okay?” Zach really seemed off.

He tilted his head. “You saw outside, right?”

Outside?  _ No! I couldn’t get caught now.  _ “U-Uh, yeah. I did.”

Zach stared at me, and then nodded. “Yeah.”

He had to have meant the wall. Monokuma couldn’t close it off completely because people had to enter the school. I knew a lot of people were going to have the realization that the wall was finally closing us in.

“Do you think we should be here?” For the first time I could remember, Zach’s eyes were down. I didn’t think this would hit him this hard.

“Y-Yeah. I don’t see why not.”

He nodded. “I just don’t know where else to go. Goddess forbid…” He stopped and shook his head.

Zach was  _ really  _ off today.

We sat there for almost ten minutes, but nobody else showed up. Now I was starting to get worried. Where was everyone?

  
  


_ Ding Dong Bing Bong _

  
  


Zach placed his head against the table. “Shit.”

I looked at him in shock.  _ What’s going on? _

  
  


_ A body has been discovered! _

  
  


The words I never thought I would hear again hit me in the face.  _ Body? That can’t be. That-- _

  
  


_ Everyone, please gather in the basement! _

  
  


Zach shot up from his chair. “Kai, we need to go. Now.”

I nodded, and followed him out of the dining hall. My thoughts were clouded, and I couldn’t tell what was going on. There couldn’t be another body. We were going to stop the killing game. The wall hadn’t even closed in yet.

As we ran through the hallway, Jolly was standing at the top of the basement stairs. She had her face against the wall.

Zach and I didn’t even say anything. We moved right past her and started moving down the stairs.

Jazz ran up the stairs and grabbed me. “Kai. Kai! Oh my god. You’re alright.” She pulled me into a hug and squeezed me hard.

Zach moved past us onto the stairs, and stopped. He just dropped onto one of the steps and put his head against the wall. Past him were Max and Elizabeth. Both of them were at the bottom of the steps.

On the ground next to them, with a pool of blood under him was Ralph… Last night’s dinner traveled quickly up my throat, and I covered my mouth with my hands. I was able to keep everything in, but I wasn’t able to keep the image of Ralph out of my head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another body!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed everything leading up to it! The final part of this chapter will be released on Monday. See you all then!


	10. Chapter 2: Every Turn, A wall - Part 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I didn't think it would happen again... And Ralph too... I...

_ Why? Why did it have to happen again? _

As I sat there in a daze, footsteps came from behind. “Jolly?! Who?” Blake’s voice carried from the top of the steps down to us. He rushed down, and stopped right next to us. “F-Fuck…”

It was starting to get cramped on the staircase. I couldn’t even look at him again. There was so much blood. More blood than I think I had ever seen. 

There were more footsteps. Three people barreled down the hallway and started moving down the stairs. “Is there really a body?” It was Lena’s voice.

I looked past Jazz to see Wattson, Violet, and Lena coming towards me. Jazz and I stepped to the side against the wall. Once people realized who was coming, everything became even more silent.

Wattson eyed us as he rushed past. “Where is it?” He turned left towards the bottom of the staircase, and froze.

Time stopped as if everyone in the room held their breath at the same time. Wattson tried to speak, but his mouth just hung open at the top of the staircase. Violet turned away from Ralph, and closed her eyes. Lena, who was stuck behind Wattson, looked around him, and then gasped.

“No.” Wattson whispered. He ran down the steps, each one bringing him closer to the body. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs, not concerned with the blood around the body. For a moment, he just stared down at Ralph’s lifeless corpse. But then his legs wobbled, and he dropped down onto the floor. Wattson’s knees moved into the blood, and his head hung above Ralph.

“Could you  _ not _ .” Max growled as Wattson started to drip tears onto the body.

Elizabeth tugged on Max’s sleeve and shook her head. Max scowled, and the two of them walked off into the croquet field.

The rest of us watched as Wattson mourned. It was horrific to watch. The sound of his crying, and the way his body shook as he sat above him. Roselia and Morton came in, but quickly noticed what was going on. Instead of calling attention to themselves, they just stood off to the side.

I don’t know how long we waited there, but no one was going to rush Wattson. We just couldn’t do it.

“Sorry I’m late guys!” Jake hopped down the steps, making sure to give me a wave as he passed. “What did I miss?” His tone couldn’t be more off-putting. He seemed happy, or maybe excited.

Even Wattson was pulled away by Jake and looked up at him with a soaked face.

“Oh. Yikes.” Jake turned to Jazz and I. “Looks like Ralph’s dead.”

Jazz raised her fist, but I dove for her arm. I’m sure I couldn’t stop her, but she stopped anyway. “Let me hit him, Kai.”

“No!” I held tightly onto her arm.

He stepped down the stairs. “I’m just pointing out the facts, Jazzy.”

Wattson watched him as he walked up to Ralph’s body. Jake scanned it with his eyes, and then turned back to everyone on the stairs. “We should start the investigation, shouldn’t we?”

“Not without the trusty Monokuma file!” Monokuma walked up to Jake from behind Wattson, and threw his hands into the air.

Jake nodded. “Oh yeah. Thanks.”

“You should all see the latest and greatest Monokuma File on your Monopads!” Monokuma spun around in a circle, as the tablets started to ding around us.

Everyone simultaneously looked down at their devices, and read the file.

  
  


**_Monokuma File 2:_ **

_ Victim: Ralph Anderson: _

_ Information: _

_ Height - 5’4 _

_ Weight - 152lbs _

_ Blood Type - A _

_ Birthday - May 2nd  _

_ The body was discovered at the base of the stairs leading to the Croquet Field. _

_ The time of death is unknown. _

_ There appears to be multiple bruises covering his body, along with a major fracture in his skull.  _

  
  


Just like last time, there wasn’t anything really useful in the file. Although knowing about the fracture on his head saved us from having to look. Which I can safely say was a bonus.

“Hold on!” Jolly shouted from the top of the steps and swiftly moved down towards Monokuma. “What is  _ this _ ?”

Monokuma tilted his head. “The Monokuma file?” He shook his paws in front of himself. “Sorry. Sorry! The Monokuma File  _ two! _ ”

“Not that.” Jolly sneered. “Where’s the cause of death? The time of death? We had both of those in the first file.”

Monokuma laughed. “Sorry, can’t give you  _ all _ the details, can I?”

“What?!” Jolly shook her head and read the file again. “What’s different this time?”

Max stepped forward. “It just means those two things are important.” She turned to Monokuma. “Right?”

Monokuma shrugged. “Maybe!” He started hopping up the stairs. “But that’s all for now. Good luck!” He sprinted up the steps and shot down the hallway.

With that, people started moving down towards the body. It was time for another investigation. The idea sickened me, but what choice did I have?

“Hey.” Zach looked at us with a pained expression. “Do you mind if I investigate with you guys?”

I shook my head. “Of course not!” Why would we mind?

From there, the three of us made our way to the body. Wattson was no longer by it. Lena and Violet had brought him over to the wall, and sat him down. I hated to be investigating while Wattson was like that, but we had no choice.

The first thing I noticed was his rocks… They were scattered on the floor next to him, and they were covered in blood. It was awful to see. It looked like he dropped the box when he fell down the stairs. The box was broken as well, with a large hole in it. The plastic around it was also cracked. There didn’t seem to be any small pieces of plastic around it though. Or maybe it was just covered in blood...

Somehow, blood had also gotten  _ in _ the box. I guess somehow wasn’t exactly the word. It was… I looked away. Even though it was next to the body, it was still a bit weird that the inside of the box was covered with blood.

Roselia was on the other side of the body. She was inspecting the head with her hands. Thinking about that almost pushed me to vomit, but I held it in.

“F-Find anything?”

She stopped, and slowly turned her head to me. “How long do you think I’ve been here?”

“I-I…”

“Exactly.” She turned back to the body. “Give me some time. You’re lucky I’m even doing this at all.”

I nodded, and we walked away from the body. Everyone else seemed to be aimlessly walking around the croquet field. From the looks of it, there seemed to be no evidence around…

Jake walked in front of us. He was scanning the floor nearby all the croquet equipment before he stopped. “Ooo!”

We followed to where he was and stood behind him. “Did you find anything?”

He turned around with a wide smile. “Look, a needle!”

I was skeptical at first, but he was holding a small needle. 

“That was on the ground?” Zach looked at his feet, trying to see if there was anything else.

“Yup!” He inspected it. “Looks broken on one end.” Jake shrugged and then pocketed it. “I wonder if it’s a clue!” He turned back around and kept walking.

It wasn’t our intention to follow Jake, but the only possible thing of interest in this area was the croquet supplies. I wondered if there was some evidence there.

Jake excitedly reached for one of the mallets. I scanned the ball order, but knew exactly who’s mallet it was. He had picked up Jazz’s. Jake inspected the tape wrapped around the center, where Jazz had broken it earlier.

Zach muttered under his breath after seeing it.

“Interesting!” Jake noted as he walked off with the mallet.

I didn’t know what was so interesting about it. We all saw Jazz break it, after all. Instead of worrying about Jake, I looked back towards the croquet equipment.

Everything looked alright. I wasn’t sure what kind of evidence I thought I would find there, but I was still a bit disappointed. I looked off at my ball, but noticed something. Mine was there like normal, followed by Blake’s, but then there was Ralph’s ball.

I walked over to the equipment to get a better look, causing both Zach and Jazz to follow me.

“What is it?” Jazz asked, quickly searching the line of items.

“Ralph’s ball is in the wrong spot.” Zach answered the question for her.

We both looked over to the first spot in the line, the spot that should have been Ralph’s. The ball that was sitting there had the symbol of a stopwatch. 

_ Morton? He never played with us though…  _ Why would his ball be moved if he never played?

“Excuse me!” Jake’s happy demeanor called my attention to the left. He was pulling Roselia away from the body.

“Can’t you see I’m busy.” She snarled. “I swear you people are so un--” Her eyes widened as Jake swung Jazz’s mallet down on Ralph’s body. Just like her mallet had done when we played, it split right in half.

The entire room went silent. I don’t think anyone expected Jake to do what he did.

He showed off the split mallet, still barely held up by tape. “That’s so weird. I didn’t even swing that hard.”

Max stormed forward and grabbed him. She pulled his arm behind his back, and pushed him against the wall. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“I-I’m just investigating! Just like the rest of y-you.” Jake struggled to talk as Max pushed his face against the side of the room.

“Bullshit.” She pushed him harder.

Zach rushed forward and pulled at Max’s arm. “Jazz’s mallet wasn’t broken until today!”

“What?” Max narrowed her eyes. “Jake just broke it right now.”

“God. What a moron. Right, Zach?” Jake smirked.

Zach sighed. “During the croquet game, Jazz broke her mallet trying to hit Jake. We put it back together with tape, but Monokuma repaired it.”

Max shook her head. “I don’t get it.”

“He’s showing everyone that it was broken prior to us coming here.” Jolly walked over, and took it from Jake. She inspected it for a moment. “Nice catch. Although, I wish you would have just told us.”

Max let Jake go, and he took a large step away from her. “I also wanted to see what kind of wound a mallet made!” He pulled up Ralph’s shirt, and examined the wound.

“Why?” Jolly peered at what he was looking at. “Do you think it’s the murder weapon?”

Jake hopped up, and shrugged. “Not telling.” He smirked at her and jogged up the stairs.

Max, Jolly, Zach, Jazz, and I stood around Roselia, who had moved back to her place at the body. After a few seconds of prodding things, she stopped and turned to us. “Yes?”

“Did you find anything.” Jolly typed on her Monopad. “I’m not exactly confident in Monokuma’s autopsy.”

Roselia sighed. “Well, I’m not  _ done _ , but if you all are that curious.” She stood up, and crouched down next to the pool of blood under his head. “So, there isn’t enough blood.”

_ W-What? What does that even mean? _

Max frowned. “I’m assuming you’re going to explain that?”

Roselia shook her head. “I don’t have an explanation for it.” She pointed towards a certain part of his head. “I believe this is the fracture Monokuma is talking about. In the event of a skull fracture, there would be  _ a lot  _ more blood than this.”

_ M-More? _

“So where is it?” Max asked.

Roselia shook her head. An annoyed tone taking over. “Who do you think I am? I’m a surgeon not a fortune teller.”

“Anything else?” Jolly kept taking notes. 

Roselia continued. “Not that I need to tell you this, but bruises on his body confirmed that he fell down the stairs.” She gestured at Ralph. “He’s covered in them.”

“So, he died from falling down the steps?” Jolly looked up the staircase.

Roselia played with that idea for a second. “That would be my conclusion. Someone pushed him down the steps, and at some point he landed on his head.”

Jolly rubbed her forehead. “That doesn’t leave us with much evidence, does it?”

Roselia nodded. “Although, there were some things that I didn’t get.”

None of us tried to interrupt her and instead just let her speak.

“The head doesn’t  _ just  _ have that large fracture.” She placed her hand on his head, and moved it around. “There seems to be a few at different points of the skull. None of them are as large as the main fracture, which is why Monokuma probably didn’t put it in his autopsy.”

“Wouldn’t he hit his head multiple times going down the stairs?” Max questioned.

Roselia nodded. “Yeah, probably.” She tilted her head. “The shape of them is a bit off though. I don’t know what kind of fracture he would have if he hit his head on the stairs. It could be different based on how he hit it.” She frowned. “But they still seem more like a blunt object. One of the fractures even seems completely circular.”

Jolly nodded. “That helps a lot. Let us know if you find anything else.”

Max leaned over Jolly’s shoulder. “What did you write down?”

“Notes.”

“Let me see them.”

“No.” Jolly and Max walked off, with Max trying to reach for Jolly’s tablet.

Zach turned to Jazz and I. “What next?”

I thought for a second. Jolly seemed to have a better idea what was going on with the fractures. I wondered if there were any other clues. There had to be something else! Where would other clues be?

“Monokuma?” I called out, trying not to be too loud.

“Did you call, Kai?” Monokuma appeared on top of the steps sipping a light blue drink from a glass.

“Do you idiots have to do this here?” Roselia growled. “It’s like you don’t want me to do this!”

“S-Sorry.” We rushed up the steps and met with Monokuma.

“What’s your question?”

I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to ask something like this. It seemed rather personal. “C-Can… A-Are we allowed to investigate  _ anywhere _ ?”

Monokuma tilted his head. “Describe anywhere.”

“W-Well… If we w-wanted to look at R-Ralph’s room…”

“Ahh! I see where you’re going with this!” Monokuma nodded. “All the dorms are unlocked during this investigation. Feel free to look to your heart’s content!”

He disappeared as quickly as he came, and the three of us were left at the stairs. Did he want me to investigate there? He didn’t say no...

“Do you think we’ll find something there?” Zach asked.

I shook my head. “I don’t know. There just has to be more to this.”

Jazz and Zach agreed, and we moved towards the dorms.

Upon exiting the school, something became immediately apparent. The wall was gone. Although that shouldn’t have been a surprise, as Monokuma said that the walls would go away if someone died. It had only been a few days, but the school just looked so different. With the wall gone, it felt like something was off. It’s crazy how quickly I got used to it.

“You okay?” Zach asked. Both him and Jazz were a few steps ahead of me. I hadn’t realized that I stopped walking.

I sped up to meet with them. “Y-Yeah. Sorry…”

Ralph’s room was on the bottom floor, a few rooms away from Jake’s. I got over the idea that I was invading his privacy, and pulled at the handle. Somewhat surprisingly, it opened with ease, and we all walked into the room.

Compared to the rooms I had seen, it looked pretty bad in there. The draws were opened, with clothes thrown around the room. The bed was moved away from the wall and towards the opposite side of the room. I wondered if it was supposed to look like that.

“What happened?” Zach walked around the room. He looked in shock.

There was a sound from the bathroom that drew all of our attention. Jazz quickly stepped in front of me and began to tiptoe towards the door. She turned the knob and threw it open, only to reveal Jake. He was rummaging through the cabinets above the sink and turned to us as the door opened.

“Oh, hey guys!” 

“What are  _ you  _ doing here?” Jazz growled.

Jake placed all the bottles in his hand into the sink and raised his eyebrow. “Investigating? What are  _ you _ doing here?” He put his hands together. “You’re not here to desecrate Ralph’s room, are you?”

Jazz sneered. “Of course not! You would do something like that!”

He laughed and walked out of the bathroom. His eyes glazed over the room. “Funnily enough…”

Zach’s expression morphed into a tired one. “You did this?”

“Yep.” Jake took a scan of the room.

“W-Why?” It seemed excessive.

He turned to me with a smile and took a piece of paper out of his pocket. Jake handed it to me, and I opened it.

  
  


_ Ralph, _

_ Come to the basement, now. I want to talk. _

  
  


_ -M _

  
  


I looked down at the note suspiciously. “This was here?”

Jake snatched it out of my hands and nodded. “Yup, right on the nightstand over there.” He pointed in the general direction of the room.

“What does it say?” Zach walked over and tried to get a look.

Jake placed the note back into his pocket and headed for the door. “Kai can tell you. I’ve got more important things to do.”

Jazz growled as he walked by. It was taking a lot of will-power for her not to swing at him. I could tell. “Like what?”

He opened the door and leaned through after partially closing it behind him. “Hmm. I don’t know. Maybe your room is unlocked!” He slammed the door.

“That little f--”

“Jazz.” She stopped and turned to me. “Don’t worry about him. He’s probably joking.”

She gave me a sour face. “But what if he’s  _ not _ ?” Her head dropped down. “I don’t want him touching things.”

“We have to worry about t--”

  
  


_ Ding Dong Bing Bong _

  
  


My sentence was cut off. A reminder that we were out of time.

  
  


_ Yawn! I swear, you brats just walk around and don’t even look at anything! Well whatever, let’s just get this show on the road! _

_ Once again, meet at the statue on the opposite side of campus! It’s trial time! _

  
  


All three of us looked at each other. There wasn’t anything more to say. It was time for the trial whether we were ready or not. I just hoped that we were ready. Once again, I hoped that Jolly had more than we did…

Jake was the only person to beat us to the statue. He was sitting on the edge of the fountain, and waved to us as we walked.

I don’t think there was a way for us to activate the waterfall, so instead we just waited with Jake. Not specifically with Jake. The three of us stood off to the side. He  _ was  _ acting abnormal, but I just attributed that to his character. I could tell the real Jake was investigating seriously.

A few minutes later, everyone else arrived. Their expressions echoed the general feeling from everyone. I don’t think a single person thought we would be standing there… We had all worked so hard to make sure nothing happened and yet there we all were exactly where we were only a few days ago.

Without saying anything that time, the statue started to rumble. It spun around, and slowly sunk into the fountain. Just like the last time, a stone path emerged, and the waterfall receded.

There weren’t any words of shock like last time, we all just silently proceeded into the elevator. It was crazy to think that we had all done this already. It wasn’t a surprise; it was just our life.

The elevator shook as it moved down to the trial room. Unlike the last time, I wasn’t scared. I think I was more broken. How could I think about what was going to happen, when I was too busy thinking about how we had gotten there? I can’t imagine a single reason why anyone would have wanted to kill, and it was even more difficult to think of a reason why someone would want to kill  _ Ralph _ . What had he ever done? What did he do to deserve…. That. I just couldn’t understand it.

With a thud, the elevator stopped at the trial floor and opened. We moved into the room and took our assigned places. Not much had changed besides the podiums of Ralph and Paige being occupied with portraits. Paige’s had a neat “X” across her face, while Ralph’s had a streaky looking one. As I looked around the room, it hurt to see now three of these portraits. Three people were gone. It hadn’t even been two weeks and that many people were gone. Just thinking about it made me sick. 

Monokuma moved into his throne and shimmied around until he was comfortable. “Welcome back, everyone! Didn’t you miss this place?”

“No.” Jolly stated firmly.

“No.” Max followed her.

“No.” Blake continued the train.

The trial room erupted to a chorus of “No”s.

“Alright!” Monokuma threw his hands up as he shouted. “You kids are so ungrateful! I provide food for you, give you a place to live, and you can’t even do what I ask?”

“We didn’t sign up for your game.” Roselia stared Monokuma down.

He laughed maniacally. Instead of responding, he waved his arms into the air. “It’s class trial time!”

There was silence from everyone in the room. It was almost like he was expecting a standing ovation or something. It was obvious none of us wanted any part in this. No matter what he said we weren’t going to change our minds.

“Let me start with a basic explanation of the class trial!””

“What?” Jolly sighed. “We did this  _ last _ time. We get how it works.”

Monokuma shrugged. “What if someone missed it last time? It’s only fair we do it for them!” He nodded. “Just in case!”

Jolly looked even more confused. “Missed it? How could they?”

“Tsk. Tsk. I expected more of you Miss Hawkins! Expecting that the entire world revolves around you! It doesn’t.”

I don’t think she had a good response to that. Monokuma was talking nonsense, so what could she say.

Monokuma started up again. “During the trial you’ll present your arguments for who the culprit is, and vote for ‘whodunnit’. Vote correctly, and only the blackened will be punished. But if you pick the wrong person… I’ll punish everyone  _ besides _ the blackened, and that person will graduate from this academy!”

At this point there was no trying to stop him, so we just let it happen.

“Also, refusing to vote will result in your death, so you better vote for  _ someone! _ ” He scanned the room. “Did I do good? Was it better than last time?”

“No one cares.” Max shouted, keeping a neutral expression. 

“Of course you don’t! You’re all too focused on the murder! The mystery!” He shook his head. “Who am I to take that all away from you? Let the class trial begin!”

Everyone looked around the room. I don’t think anyone wanted to talk first. Whatever someone said dictated where the entire discussion would go. It was a lot of pressure to put on one person.

“Unlike last time, there are no immediate suspects…” Roselia frowned.

Jolly tapped on her Monopad, assumingly to prepare her statements. “Not like that helped us all that much. We spent half of the time blaming it on Violet.”

Some eyes were drawn to Violet, and she quickly put her head down. It didn’t feel fair to bring that up again. I was sure she still felt terrible about what happened…

Zach cleared his throat. “I…” He stopped and then took a deep breath. “I’m going to bring this up because I’m sure you didn’t do it…” He had a pained look on his face. “I just need to get it off my chest.”

Lena shook her head. “Don’t be afraid to provide evidence!”

“It’s not…” Zach looked down. He held his head like that for a second before slowly lifting it towards me. “Kai, where were you this morning?”

The question shot a cold spike through my brain and paralyzed me.  _ Where was I this morning? W-W-Wha… W…  _ Every single thought that I had in my head collapsed into nothing. Did he see me? Did he suspect me? What did I do? What was going to happen?  _ Am I going to die? _

“Answer his question.” Max’s dominating tone filled my brain and echoed back and forth. It was the only thing I could hear.

“Kai.” Zach repeated my name, causing my mind to clear a bit. “I know it wasn’t you. You wouldn’t do this.”

I nodded. He was right. I didn’t do it.  _ Right?  _ My mind thought back to the broken arm restraint. Nothing else was broken though. It  _ couldn’t  _ have been me!

“Just tells us. Where were you?”

It helped more than I thought it would just to hear him say I didn’t do it. I was afraid for a second that Zach suspected me. That wasn’t the case. I just had to keep everything going. “I-I was asleep?”

He tilted his head. “Where?”

I was so confused. Why was he asking this? He didn't think I did it, so why did he think I wasn’t in my room. The better question was how did he  _ know _ . I hoped that he didn’t. “I-In the d-dorms.”

Zach’s expression twisted into a frown. He really didn’t like that answer. Did he know?

“Zach.” Jolly looked confused. “What’s going on?”

He ignored her and took a deep breath. His voice was pained but forceful. “You  _ weren’t  _ in the dorms last night, were you?”

_ Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god. Oh god.  _ Once again my brain was going insane. How did he know? What did I do? Nobody saw me! I know nobody saw me!

Zach kept going. “When I was in the dining hall before the announcement, you showed up alone.” He shook his head. “I don’t think I’ve  _ ever  _ seen you come to the dining hall alone. It’s always with Jazz!”

_ Oh god he’s right.  _ I had shown up without Jazz! It was a dead giveaway. I was done for!

“Oh!” Jazz smiled. “That’s because I had forgotten something in my room!” She nodded. “Yeah, I told Kai to go on ahead without me!”

_ What? Whatwhatwhatwhat?  _ She was covering for me? I had no idea why. I hadn’t told her anything, and I doubt she knew what was going on. She still covered for me?

“What?!” At this point, Zach seemed angry. There was no way he could say both of us were lying. 

Roselia scoffed. “Wow, you guys are really putting on a show. Delightful.” 

“No!” Zach looked beyond confused. “Why are you covering for him? What is going on?”

Jazz tilted her head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. That’s what happened this morning!” 

“Then why did you grab Kai, excited that he was alright after the body discovery?!” He had a befuddled look on his face. “It would have been, what? Ten minutes since you had last seen him?”

Jazz didn’t respond for a second, and then said. “Ten minutes is a long time.”

“But you had seen the body!” He shook his head. “You already knew who was dead! It only makes sense if you didn’t actually see him!”

Jazz shrugged. “But I did.”

Zach put his hands on his head and breathed outwards.

“Do you think Kai did this?” Max asked.

“No!” Zach looked like he was about to lose it. “Kai just wasn’t in the dorms last night. He hadn’t even seen that the wall was gone!”

_ Oh.  _ At that moment I realized what Zach was saying to me at breakfast. The wall was gone when everyone woke up… That’s how he knew something had happened.... I  _ really _ messed that up.

Jolly raised her eyebrow. “He didn’t?”

“No!” Zach stared off at me. “I was so worried about what was going on, and he was acting like everything was normal!”

_ No wonder he suspects me… _

Jolly frowned. “So, what? He slept in the school somewhere?”

Zach shrugged. “Probably. I don’t know  _ why _ .” He shook his head. “The second we stepped outside he froze. I’m telling you, he didn’t realize the wall was gone.”

_ This is bad.  _ I knew they were going to think I killed Ralph. Even if they didn’t they were going to find out where I was…

“Didn’t he leave early too…” Blake said in a low voice.

“Yep!” Lena agreed.

There was silence from the room. I didn’t have anything I could say in defense.

“Kai.” Zach pleaded. “You didn’t do this. Just tell us where you were.”

I was trapped. There was nowhere to go. After everything I tried to do to hide my talent… It was over. They were going to hate me.

“Ugh.” Jake groaned. “Are you guys really going to talk about this  _ all _ day? I thought we were solving Ralph’s murder.”

Max’s eyes shot to the right at him. “We  _ are _ . Kai is currently the most suspicious person.”

Jake glared at her and then looked at the rest of the group. “Really? You’re just going to let Max say that  _ Kai  _ is the most suspicious person here?”

No one responded. I was just happy that someone was defending me. I knew Jake was on my side!

His eyes widened. “Really? I swear to fucking god you idiots are allergic to evidence.” Jake shook his head. “Why would Kai lie about seeing the wall if he killed someone?”

Morton shrugged. “Maybe he killed Ralph and then decided to stay in the school?”

“Yeah, but  _ why _ ?” Jake looked around. “There is no reason to not go back to the dorms after killing someone. And there’s no reason to lie about having seen the wall.”

Zach frowned. “Even if you’re right, he wasn’t in the dorms.”

Jake sighed. “Wow, if only there was a locked room in this school that only Kai could open.” He gave Zach an “are you stupid?” expression. “Too bad there isn’t anything like that!”

_ Oh no.  _

“But it’s locked.” Jolly retorted. 

“Yeah, and Monokuma won’t sell me a key. So either there’s a random locked room in the school that we aren’t supposed to open, or Kai was given the key at some point.” Jake turned to Monokuma. “Will you tell us which? Please?”

Monokuma tilted his head. “Huh? I have  _ no _ idea what you’re talking about!” He put his paw on his face. “I think the headmaster would know of a locked room in the school if there was one!”

“If Kai can get in his lab, then that means he knows his talent.” Zach's eyes drifted from Jake to me.

_ Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. _

Jake nodded in an exaggerated manner. “Good one, sherlock. I bet you he does.”

All eyes in the room were on me. I thought Jake would defend me, but he actually was exposing me! What’s the point of defending me then?

“So, Kai.” Jake smirked. “Were you in your lab last night?”

Alarms were going off in my head. Jake was giving me the perfect excuse to get out of all the accusations, but if I said yes then everyone would know I had been lying. There was no winning. I had to think of another way out. “N-No.” My words were shakier than they ever had been.

Jake nodded. “Mmhm. Then show us your Monopad.” His smile grew wider. “If you haven’t been in your lab, then it should still be grayed out on the map, and your talent should still be unknown.” He gestured to me. “Go ahead, Kai. I believe you.”

I lost. That was game over. My face gave Jake everything he needed to confirm his theory, and the rest of the group realized that he was right as well.

Zach let out a huge sigh, and relaxed at his podium. “Thank the goddess.”

But they weren’t done with me. Jolly quickly shifted her tone. “What’s your talent, Kai?” She began typing furiously on her Monopad. “I’ll overlook you hiding this from me if you give me a tour of your lab tomorrow. It'll be quick, I promise.”

There were murmurs from everyone in the room. They all knew I lied about my talent...

Jake looked like he was about to speak, but was cut off by Monokuma. “Um, have you kids forgotten where you are? This is a class trial! We’re solving murders here, not trading information!”

Jolly winced, but nodded. “He’s r-right…” She looked extremely upset. “We should get back to the trial now that Kai’s no longer the main suspect.”

“Actually.” Jake looked to Monokuma. “I have some questions before we get into it.”

Monokuma nodded. “Fire away!”

“What happens if there’s a suciide?”

The extremely serious question from Jake caught everyone off-guard. Was that important for this trial? Did he know something we didn’t?

“Hmm?” Monokuma tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

“If someone kills themself, or dies by natural causes, would we still have a trial?”

Monokuma laughed. “Of course! In the event that one of you dies, a class trial will be held!”

Jake nodded. “And we would have to correctly discover that they were the murderer and the victim?”

Monokuma nodded. “Yep! You got it!”

“One more.” Jake smiled. “What happens if two separate killers murder two separate people?”

Monokuma laughed. “These are some great questions, Jake! We here in the Ultimate Academy believe in first come, first serve.”

“So, only the first murder counts?”

Monokuma nodded. “Yep!”

“And there are no consequences for the second murder?”

Monokuma’s eye glowed red. “You’re not trying to break my system, are you?”

Jake put his hands out in front of himself. “Of course not. There’s no benefit to killing it you couldn’t win! I was just wondering in the case that two different killers show up!”

Monokuma’s eyes went back to normal. “Then yes, there would technically be no consequences for the second murder.” Monokuma stopped. “Any more questions?”

“Nope!”

Max glared at Jake. “Those don’t seem related to this trial.”

Jake looked confused. “I never said they were.”

“Well then wh--”

Jolly spoke quickly to get us back on track. “Should we actually talk about the trial now, instead of going in circles?”

“I’m fine with that.” Morton gestured back to her. “Where would you like to start?”

“Evidence.” She didn’t have to think for a second. “We should first get everything out in the open. Then we can focus on who the killer is.”

Everyone nodded, and I was just happy to have the conversation in a different direction. Part of me knew that topic wasn’t done though…

Jolly started scrolling through her pad. “So, what do we know?”

“Ralph fell down the stairs!” Elizabeth looked happy to be presenting something.

Max nodded. “He most likely died from that as well.”

Could we really say that Ralph died that way though? It was probable, but a few things were inconsistent. 

“Not so fast.” Jolly kept tapping before finally looking up. “Roselia seemed to think that wasn’t the case.”

The eyes of the room fixated on Roselia, who didn’t seem to be ready to join the conversation. She prepared herself and then spoke. “Actually, I believe that Ralph did fall down the stairs at  _ one point _ . It’s difficult to determine whether that was the cause of death though.”

“What? Did he fall down the stairs, and  _ then _ someone killed him?!” Lena looked back and forth around the room. “Could something like that really happen?”

Morton frowned. “Anything can happen.”

“Guys.” Jolly put her hands up. “We’re getting off topic. Evidence.”

Everyone quieted down, and Jolly started to present what Roselia told us before. “Firstly, I find it very interesting that there was a lack of blood at the scene.”

Elizabeth shook her head. “I don’t think you’re right about that one… Maybe you’re colorblind or something? I saw loads of blood!”

“What she  _ means _ , is that the blood surrounding the body wasn’t as much as there usually would be with a wound like that.” Roselia corrected.

Violet pulled down her mask. “When you say usually, are you suggesting it is possible?”

Roselia didn’t seem to like that answer. “No. It’s a head wound. There  _ was _ less blood.”

“Then  _ where _ did it go?” Max asked Roselia with a sharp glare.

“How am  _ I  _ supposed to know? I’m just telling you what I saw!” Roselia huffed. “I don’t know why I even do this for you morons.”

Jolly raised her hand, drawing at attention from the floor. “That’s not all. Roselia noted  _ multiple _ different wounds to the head. I believe I remember them being abnormal?”

Roselia fidgeted in place. “It’s difficult to suggest what a stair to the head is supposed to look like. Depending on the angle it could be widely different.”

“But there were wounds that were more circular in nature, correct?” Jolly was really leading us through this one. I assumed that she had everything ready beforehand on her Monopad.

Roselia nodded. “Along with one  _ very  _ circular wound. Almost too perfect.”

“So, it would be stupid to suggest that Ralph  _ only _ fell down the stairs?” Blake chewed on his own statement. “Something must have happened, right?”

“That doesn’t make sense!” Elizabeth looked very confused. “If we know he fell down the stairs, then why are we trying to say something else happened? I thought we decided he fell?”

Max cleared her throat. “Not only that, but I fail to see what other weapons could have been used. We didn’t find any at the scene.”

“Of course  _ you  _ don’t.” Blake rolled his eyes.

“I’m sorry, did you say something?” Max’s tone was filled with rage.

He raised his hands with a smile. “No. No! Just you’re clearly wrong.”

“Blake, this isn’t helping.” Zach offered.

Blake wasn’t going about it correctly, but he wasn’t wrong. There was at least one weapon that could have been used. Before more fighting erupted, I started to speak. “W-What about J-Jazz’s mallet?”

“What about it?” Max shouted, her anger still dripping off her voice. It was now directed at me. 

I didn’t know what to say. If I said anything Max would start yelling. I  _ really  _ didn’t want that… But I had to keep the discussion going.

“Remember when I demonstrated that it had been broken?” Jake yawned. “Remember?”

“Yeah.” She growled.

“Monokuma repaired her mallet after the croquet game.” Zach gestured to Lena. “We went down to the field the day after, and it was just like new.”

Lena nodded. “The tape was still on it though!”

“The tape was still on it.” Zach nodded.

Max shook her head. “So, what? It was broken again?”

“Yep!” Jake smiled. “When I was inspecting the equipment, I noticed that it was a little tilted. I said to myself, that’s weird!”

“Okay.” Max’s anger was drifting to confusion. 

“A mallet would match the circular wound Roselia found on the skull.” Jolly nodded and started to type into her Monopad.

Morton nodded. ‘So it’s likely the killer used the mallet on the victim, but we don’t know if it was fatal.” He paused. “Is it possible the killer used the mallet to knock the victim out? Then maybe they threw them down the stairs?”

“Ugh.” Max groaned. “We’ve gone nowhere! It doesn’t matter if a mallet was used, Ralph was still killed by being thrown down the stairs.” She said it so matter-of-factly. But I still feel like there were things missing.

Violet pulled down her mask. “My question is that the Monokuma file said there were multiple bruises all over the body, and one large fracture in the skull. Wouldn’t that mean that was the cause of death?” She tilted her head. “Was the circular wound large enough to be the fracture?”

Roselia frowned. “No.”

“So there we have it!” Max slammed her hand on the podium. “A waste of time!”

“But, the Monokuma file doesn’t state the cause of death.” Jolly stated firmly. “Unlike last time, it never actually told us. Instead it just left us with bruises and fractures.”

“Because the cause of death is part of the mystery.” Zach followed up.

Jolly pointed to him and nodded.

“But he still died on the stairs?” Elizabeth asked earnestly. 

Jolly’s smile wiped away. “No…”

“Yes, he did.”

“No, he didn’t!” Jolly’s voice started to raise.

Monokuma jolted and looked across the class. “What’s this? We have a  _ Split Opinion _ ?”

_ Oh no.  _ I knew where that was going from the last trial. 

He started to dance in his chair. “It’s time for another beautiful showcase of the Morphenomenal trial grounds!” The music started to play instantly, and the entire group sighed. He once again pulled out the key, and forced it into the console on his chair. It made a dinging noise, and then his chair started to slowly rise into the air.

It was  _ exactly _ like last time.

We made our way up to the small box in the ceiling, as the music ramped up in intensity. Jolly and Zach were to my left, while Roselia was to my right. Across from me was Morton, who was next to Violet, Elizabeth, and Max.

“Welcome to the Scrum Debate! If you can’t solve your differences, we’ll be stuck in an infinite loop!” He laughed. “Good luck, and enjoy the tunes!”

Screens on each side flashed with text.

  
  


_ Was Ralph murdered on the stairs, or somewhere else? _

  
  


Max leaned forward. “There’s not enough evidence to suggest that he died anywhere else!”

“The lack of blood under his body actually suggests that he  _ did _ die somewhere else!” Roselia shouted back.

Morton tilted his head. “But he died from a wound to the head. Roselia can’t be sure that the stairs weren’t what killed him.”

I looked around. It seemed to be my turn. “B-But there were multiple wounds on his head! The Monokuma file doesn’t tell us which actually killed him. Until we know what killed him, we can’t say that it was the stairs e-either!”

Morton shrugged in response.

Elizabeth stepped up. “There’s one question you can’t answer! Where did all the blood go?”

That was a good question. I don’t think it was fair for them to throw that as us though. They didn’t know the answer either.

Zach smirked. “I don’t know the answer for sure, but Monokuma mentioned that the field would be reset at midnight every night. What if Ralph was killed on that? It would surely account for a lot of missing evidence.”

Jolly high fived Zach, causing Max to boil over. “You keep talking about missing evidence! If he was killed somewhere else, then how did his blood get over to the stairs?”

Jolly tilted her head. “Oh, that one’s easy.” Max froze as Jolly tapped on her Monopad a few times. “Ralph's box that he used to carry his rocks was covered with blood on the inside. So, the killer used that.”

Max just stood there, dumbfounded. The music cut out after a few seconds, and the podiums moved down to the floor.

“Good job, as always!” Monokuma shouted with his paws in the air.

“T-The box was really covered in blood?” Max asked.

Jolly looked down at her Monopad, not really paying attention. “Yeah, didn’t you see?”

I noticed that, but the thought that it was used to transport blood had never even crossed my mind. I had thought that it was weird that the inside was coated, but I didn’t think  _ that  _ far into it…

“So, the killer used the daily reset of the croquet field to dispose of evidence?” Violet nodded slowly. “Smart.”

Jolly nodded. “We can assume so. It would explain the lack of blood.”

“And, help us narrow down the time of death!” Jake smiled.

Zach nodded. “Yeah, if they did use the field, then that means the murder happened before midnight last night.”

“Bingo!” Jake applauded. 

Jolly typed quickly. “That gives us a better window for the time of death, but the means the murder could have happened an entire day before.” She frowned. “Or at least any time after someone last saw Ralph.”

“Then there’s no better way to narrow down the time of death?” Morton frowned. “Or are we missing something?” 

Jolly shook her head. “Not unless anyone saw him close to midnight. Which I doubt happened.”

There was a silence, and then Violet pulled down her mask. “It wasn’t midnight, but he did go to see Morton last night.”

Jolly quickly typed into her Monopad, as the rest of the room locked onto Morton.

“Last night you say?” Roselia smirked.

Morton quickly shook his head. “Woah, hold on! It was before the nighttime announcement. Don’t start drawing conclusions!”

“But the murder could have happened at any time yesterday!” Lena shouted. “Right? Right?” She looked to Jolly for confirmation.

“That’s true. We only know it couldn’t have happened after midnight.”

Zach frowned. “Is it a bad time to mention that Moron and Ralph’s balls were switched on the croquet field?”

“What?!” Morton looked shocked. “I didn’t do that!”

Zach looked away from him.

“That’s a dumb mistake anyway. Why would I make such a stupid mistake?”

Roselia scoffed. “Because the croquet equipment had an order. You weren’t playing with us that day, so it would be an easy mistake to make.”

“With that logic, then he wouldn’t know that Jazz broke her mallet.” Blake shrugged. “So why would he use her’s for the murder?”

My eyes widened. “I-I told him…”

Max groaned. “Really?”

Lena nodded rapidly. “Yup! I was there!”

“As was I.” Zach raised his hand.

Violet pulled down her mask, but was quickly cut off by Max. “We don’t need to hear from everyone.” Violet slowly pulled it back up. An annoyed expression sat on her face.

Jolly looked up. “So, Morton was the last person to see Ralph, and he knew about what happened during the croquet game. I guess it’s safe to say he’s our current suspect.”

“And Ralph didn’t like him!” Lena spouted out with a jittery tone.

This caught Max’s attention. “What did you say?”

Lena pointed over to me. “When we were at the-- Two days ago at the party, Ralph was telling Kai about how he didn’t like Morton. Right Kai? Violet was there too!” She turned the discussion over to me.

“Is this true?” Jolly looked at Morton and then to me.

I nodded. “Morton had been working with Wattson on finding out his talent. Ralph didn’t s-seem to think it was a good idea…”

Violet pulled down her mask. “Kai has it right. Ralph thought that Morton was doing something suspicious. It’s why he went to talk to him last night.”

The eyes of the room focused on Morton. The evidence was quickly stacking against him. I thought Morton was a good person. When I talked to him he seemed really nice. Was I wrong about him? Maybe I should have listened to Ralph…

“Hmm.” Jake thought out loud. “Is there any evidence left?” He paused. “Kai?”

_ Evidence?  _ My brain reached the note left in Ralph’s room. Why was Jake having me bring it up? “U-Uh. There was something in Ralph’s room…”

Jolly’s eyes shot up from her Monopad.

“There was a note telling him to come to the croquet field…”

Jake reached into his pocket and waved it in front of everyone. “Signed M.”

In the silence, Max searched the room with her eyes. After a few seconds they shot to Morton. “I didn’t write it. Morton, do you have something to say?”

He put his hands up in disbelief. “And you think  _ I _ wrote it?” Morton shook his head. “Someone is framing me!”

Jolly frowned. “We’re going to need some kind of evidence. If you can’t give us that…”

“No point skirting around it.” Max’s tone was sharp. “Prove it, or we’re voting you. I personally don’t believe anything you’re saying.”

Morton looked around for a second, probably trying to think of anything. “I met up with Wattson last night. How about that?”

The sound of his name shook Wattson out of a trance-like state. He looked around, still half in a daze. “Huh?”

“When?” Max asked. “We’re going to need Wattson to confirm that as well.”

“Just after the nighttime announcement. We definitely went past midnight! I think it was until around one-thirty.”

Max rolled her eyes. “Wattson?”

He looked off at her. “W-What are we talking about?”

“Last night. Did you meet with Morton.” Her tone was forceful.

The aggressive tone didn’t seem to shake Wattson from his state. He looked off in her direction, as if he wasn’t really looking at her. “Y-Yeah.”

“When? Times would be helpful.”

Wattson’s head slowly drifted to the floor. “Sometime after ten…”

“When did it end?” She was practically shouting.

“Late…”

“What’s  _ late _ ?” Max was getting seriously angry. Wattson looked off to Morton for help. But Max quickly snapped at him. “Don’t look at him, look at  _ me _ !”

Wattson drifted back. “M-Maybe t-two?” He looked back to Morton. “I-Is that r-right?”

It was awful to watch. He had mostly been quiet until now, so I didn’t realize how bad he was… 

Morton had a pained look in his face, and looked at the floor. “Isn’t that enough?”

“No.” Jolly kept her eyes on her device. “Even if you met up at Wattson after the announcement, there is nothing to say you didn’t kill Ralph before then. Especially if you  _ met  _ him before that.”

My eyes were still on Wattson, who pulled something out of his pocket. After focusing on them, I noticed that they were rocks… Wattson stared at them. Tears started to come from his eyes and drop onto the rocks in his hands. I couldn’t look at him anymore. It hurt too much.

Morton shook his head slowly. “I’m telling you. I didn’t do this! Someone else is trying to set me up. There has to be something else. Maybe someone saw him? Anyone?”

Morton was starting to panic as well. Maybe he did it, but there was something genuine about the sound of his voice. Was there something else? Something that told us what the time of death was? Some kind of beacon that told us when Ralph died? 

There was silence from everyone else. It was unlikely that someone would have seen him. If that happened, they would have said something.

I started to think again. There had to be some way to narrow things down. How to know when the murder happened. I thought back to this morning. Zach knew that a murder happened. He knew before he even saw it… It was because the wall was gone.  _ But that wouldn’t help us.  _ My brain snapped back.  _ Wait, why couldn’t that help us? _

Jolly sighed. “I’m sorry, Morton.”

“Wait!” I shouted, which on its own got everyone’s attention. My face heated up, but I didn’t care. “M-Monokuma. How l-long after the murder did you r-remove the walls?”

Jolly, Zach, and Morton’s eyes all widened at the same time.

“Umm…” Monokuma shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “That’s a good question. I don’t know if I’m at liberty to say!”

“No!” Morton’s voice was filled with excitement. “They were gone! They were gone!”

“What was gone?” Jolly asked.

Morton took a deep breath. “When Wattson and I headed back after our session. The walls were gone when we went back to the dorm!”

“Wattson!” Max shouted, causing him to jump. “Were the walls gone when you left?”

He stared into the center of the room, but nodded.

“Exactly!” Morton shouted. “I even made a comment about it. I thought it was so weird, but just assumed that Monokuma was preparing for tomorrow!”

“But that doesn’t prove you didn’t murder Ralph  _ before _ .” Elizabeth shook her head. “Nice try, though.”

Jolly put her head in her hands. “Elizabeth. Were the walls up when you went to bed?”

She thought for a second. “Yeah.”

“Then that means the murder was committed after the nighttime announcement, which is when Wattson met with Morton.” Jolly shook her head. “Morton has an alibi.”

“I told you!” All of the despair in Morton’s voice shifted to joy. It was a good thing we figured that out.

“Wait.” Lena frowned. “But there’s all that other evidence! Besides, couldn’t Morton have done it in between the announcement and the time Wattson got there?”

Morton sneered. “First of all, there was maybe ten minutes of time in between the announcement and Wattson getting to my lab. So, I  _ couldn’t _ have done it!” He put up two fingers. “Secondly, all of that other evidence is garbage! Someone tied to make it  _ look  _ like it was me!”

“Yeah.” Jolly typed in her Monopad. “Morton’s alibi is better than most of ours.”

Lena shook her head. “But he had a motive. Remember what Ralph said?”

“That just means the killer knew how Ralph felt about me! It doesn’t mean  _ I  _ did it!” Morton was starting to shout, and his face was filled with anger. Then he paused and tilted his head. “Who knew about that?”

I slowly raised my hand. “M-Me.”

Violet nodded. “I did as well. Along with Wattson and Ralph, of course.”

“I was with Kai.” Jazz answered.

There was a silence, as I think people were waiting for others to join in. But that seemed to be the whole list.

“And of course Lena, who gracefully brought this information to us.” Morton’s tone was caustic.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Lena looked confused.

Morton sneered. “Only a handful of people in this room knew about that. I think that should help us narrow down the  _ real _ killer.” Morton’s confidence really started to raise since he got an alibi. “How about we start with the person who brought up the evidence?”

“What?” Lena looked upset. “How is that fair? I was just saying that it could have been you!”

“And you kept saying it even after I got an alibi!”

“I had to make sure your alibi was actually an alibi!” Lena kept her naturally peppy tone of voice, which was really weird to hear in an argument.

“Guys.” Jolly stopped them. “This isn’t getting us anywhere. If you would like to discuss evidence, then I am all ears.”

Morton looked like he was about to stop, but then smirked. “Fine! Why don’t we go through the evidence on me? I want to know who brought everything up.”

“That’s not wh--” Jolly started, but was cut off by Max.

“I think that’s a great idea.” She gestured to Morton. “Please start.”

Morton nodded. “Sure. First, we have the idea that Ralph had a grudge against me. Lena brought that up after hearing it at the pool.”

No one objected, because Lena presented it herself. I knew Morton was angry, but Lena couldn’t have been the killer. She wasn’t like that.

“Then we have the note. Anyone could have signed it as “M”.” He paused. “Especially someone who knew Ralph had a problem with me and was trying to fr--”

“Morton.” Jolly interrupted. “Evidence.”

Morton raised his hands. “Sorry. Sorry. The fact that I met Ralph last night was brought up by… Uh...”

“Me.” Violet raised her hand.

He frowned. “That one was just lucky, I guess.”

Violet looked at the ground. “Well, not truly.”

“What?” Max commanded.

Violet sighed. “After Ralph went to see Morton, I left to go to the dorms.” She stopped. “I saw Lena on the way out.”

_ Oh no. _

“Oh  _ really _ ?” Morton said with a massive smile. “You didn’t happen to  _ tell her  _ where Ralph was, did you?”

Violet covered her face with her hand. “I did.”

Morton started laughing. “That’s crazy! Can you believe it guys?”

“Lena was the only person with me when I saw that Jazz’s mallet was fixed.” Zach said coldly.

Jolly stared down at her Monopad. There was a sigh from her. “I also have it here that Lena was there when Zach and Kai told Morton that her mallet had been broken.”

Lena looked shocked. “Hold on! This isn’t evidence!” She shook her head. “Come on everyone!” She gave off a kind smile. “You know me. I would  _ never  _ hurt my friends.”

There was a cold silence that enveloped the room. Lena was right. She wouldn’t do something like that! There had to be some evidence that exonerated her!

“Oh, you want evidence?” Jake had his mouth covered with his hand. He slowly lowered it, and reached into his pocket. “I actually found something cool at the scene!”

“What!?” Max was enraged. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

He looked at her with a straight face. “Must’ve forgot.”

‘Forgot?” Max was seeping rage.

“Forget it.” Jolly dismissed her. “What is it?”

Jake held something small in front of himself. It had a slightly gleam to it. “Well it looks sorta like a needle.” He moved it around with his hand. “But upon closer inspection you can see there’s a little metal latch on it.”

“Okay?” Max responded, still cooling down.

Jake ignored her and kept going. “The metal latch actually holds the needle in place, and the end of the needle seems to be broken.”

I don’t think anyone knew what he was talking about.

“In unrelated news, Lena, where’s your pin?” A smile started to grow on Jake’s face. “I could’ve sworn you wore it every day. It was like a red crosshair or something.”

I looked over towards Lena, and couldn’t believe I missed it. She had worn that pin every single day. But Jake was right. It was gone.

Lena shrugged. “I must have forgotten it when I changed my jumpsuit.” 

She didn’t seem very bothered about it. But there was something weird about what she said. I couldn’t put my finger on it.

“Forgot it?” Jolly frowned. “Really?”

“Yeah I forgot it. What’s so impossible about forgetting something when you change?”

_ That was it!  _ “Lena, you only change your jumpsuit on the weekend. Isn’t it still mid-week?”

“Who knows?!” Monokuma shouted.

Lena’s smiled at me. “Ah yeah, usually! But I thought it just needed a change this morning.”

“So you changed it this morning?” Morton noted.

“Uh, yeah.” Lena kept her smile.

Zach looked tired. “I thought changing your jumpsuit more than once a week was for rookies. Or was it not you who said that?”

Blake nodded. “Definitely her.”

“W-Well that doesn’t even mean anything! It was just something people used to say!” Her smile was fading.

“Guys.” Jake still had his smile. “Who are we to say why she changed!” He turned to Monokuma. “I’m sure the pin means a lot to her. Could you go get it seeing as she forgot?”

Lena’s eyes widened. 

“Hmm.” Monokuma pondered that.

“She shouldn’t have to go through this trial without her trusty pin!” Jake examined the item in his hand. “And this thing I found at the scene of the crime, which is half of a broken pin, just has to be someone else's.” He shrugged. “I’m sure the killer,” Jake coughed, “Lena.” He patted his chest. “Sorry. I’m sure the killer didn’t just expect that piece of evidence to be wiped away like the rest! It’s not like they were careless.” Jake smiled at Lena. “After all, we all wear pins. Right guys?”

The silence was deafening. She really did do it…  _ No.  _ It had to be some kind of mistake.  _ I know Lena _ .

“This is exactly what I was saying.” Jazz grumbled. “I told you, Kai! She’s a fucking killer!”

I wanted to scream, “No Jazz, she isn’t!” but before I could do that, Lena responded.

“Right as always, Jazz.”

“I knew it!” Morton shouted.

The world moved in slow motion, as I rotated my head to look at Lena.

“Never thought I’d hear someone say that.” Jake laughed.

“It’s true!” Lena’s face generated a new smile. “Jazz is the only one who told me the truth!”

Everyone looked at Jazz, but she just shook her head. “No idea what you’re talking about.”

Lena laughed. “While the rest of you were conspiring to kill me, Jazz was the only one who was genuine!” She looked down, a calm smile decorating her face. “While the rest of you judged me in silence, Jazz told me how she really felt. I appreciate that. I really do!” 

“Conspiring to kill you?” Jolly was befuddled. “What?”

Lena’s smile disappeared, and anger controlled her expression. “Don’t lie!” She paused. “There’s no point in that now. I know how you all really see me.” The smile returned. “You think I’m a monster.”

“What are you saying, Lena?” Zach was exasperated. “None of us think that!”

“I do.” Max added.

“Same!” Elizabeth agreed.

“Haha.” Lena shook her head. “Look at you, trying to redeem yourselves at the end. After I saw you conspiring against me during breakfast yesterday?” She laughed. “The way the conversation stopped and your eyes locked on me. I could tell instantly!”

“We were talking about the motive!” Jolly shouted.

“Stop.” Lena shook her head. “I told you, there’s no point now. You’re just all upset that I killed one of you before you could kill me!” She cackled. “I get it! I would be upset too!”

_ This isn’t Lena. This isn’t who she is.  _ I told myself that over and over. It was some other person. They had taken over her body. That was the only explanation.

“This is insane!” Zach pleaded. “Lena, please!”

But she ignored him and kept talking. “You all though I was too weak after what happened with P-P-Pa…” Lena’s face contorted, but she quickly moved on. “You all thought I was dangerous after what happened with Kai!”

She wasn’t listening anymore. The only thing we could do was watch as she unraveled. 

“Thank you, Jazz!” Lena extended her arms to Jazz. “I had a feeling that you were all waiting for the walls. Just itching at an opportunity to kill me.” She shook her head. “The stupid girl in me tried to push against that idea.” She looked softly at Jazz. “But you helped me realize the truth! You warned me of what was to come.” Lena wiped her face. “I didn’t lie when I said I would never kill a friend. If anyone here is, you Jazz, are my only friend.”

The entire time Lena was talking, Wattson, who was right next to her, was watching. He clutched Ralph’s rocks tightly in his hands and spoke. “W-Why?”

Lena’s gaze drifted over to him. “Why? I had to strike first of course! It was my only way out!” She smiled. “My only way to win!”

Wattson’s expression didn’t change. Instead, he just muttered the question again. “Why R-Ralph?”

Lena stared back at Wattson with neutral expression. “I don’t know, convenience?”

“C-Co-Convenience?” 

She nodded happily. “I knew I had to do something fast. In only a day or two you all were going to kill me.” She smirked. “Then, while thinking about what I could do, I remembered what Ralph said about Morton. It was perfect!” Lena nodded. “Making you all fight between yourselves was the perfect way to win!” Her smile was terrifying. It was like she didn’t even care. “My ultimate revenge!”

It was awful to hear. It wasn’t her. I knew it wasn’t her.

“I almost couldn’t kill him!” She laughed as though she was telling a funny story. “He told me about how trapped he felt in life, and I’ll be honest, the story really resonated with me! I thought he was just like me.” She frowned. “Then he started spouting about how much his life has changed since he came here. Talking about new friends and how he’s never felt this happy since before his parents died.” Lena scoffed. “Like good for you, asshole! Not all of us can be happy.” She laughed. “So I just started swinging!” Lena shrugged. “When the mallet broke, I found a perfectly good box of rocks to smash his head open with.”

It was horrific. There was no way she did that…

“Maybe I would have done better if I just threw him down the stairs like I originally planned.” She shrugged again. “I think it’s a good thing to live in the moment.”

“You’re disgusting.” Zach said with pain covering his face.

Lena laughed. “What’s wrong? You’re acting like you wouldn’t have done the same.”

“I wouldn’t have.” He confirmed.

“Keep lying to yourself!” Lena waved her hand to dismiss him. “You’re all lying, and as much as it sucks to not see you all unravel, I’m free.” She outstretched her arms, almost touching Wattson, who recoiled to the other side of his podium.

Max scoffed. “Free?”

“Freer than the rest of you.” She looked up into the air. “Free like a bird.”

“You’re crazy.” Max stated.

But Lena wasn’t listening. “Monokuma, isn’t it time for the vote? I would so very much like to leave.”

“You’ll be leaving in a body bag.” Max growled.

Lena smiled at her. “It’s hilarious that you don’t think you will too!”

Max was stunned. No words, only anger.

Before she could say anything, Monokuma started talking. “It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for! The suspense filled voting time!” He pointed at us. “Please open your Monopads and go to the voting tab!” He continued explaining. “There you will see every student in your class. You need to vote for one of them, or you’ll be punished too!” He spun around. “Will you make the right choice? Or the dreadfully wrong one?” He paused on that terrifying question. “Gooood luck!”

I stared down at my Monopad, stunned by the reality of this case. I had to vote for Lena. My eyes wandered over to Jazz, who forcefully pressed down on the part of her screen with Lena’s face.

Jazz looked over to me after she was done. “Do yo--”

“I’m fine.” I pressed the button on my Monopad, cementing my part of this process. I couldn’t hide behind others forever.

  
  


_ Vote Counted! _

  
  


She turned away from me and stared at her feet.

Monokuma laughed. “It seems the voting has finished. Now then, let’s see the result!”

A large monitor descended from above. The screen turned on and showed each of our faces. Red tallies moved up under Lena’s name. Every tally but three went under her name. I assumed that it meant people voted for someone else, but that was the end of the tally. It was another gruesome reminder that three of my classmates were dead..

The screen changed to a wheel with all our faces on it again. It spun with an electronic sound chiming as it made its way around. Finally, it slowed and landed on Lena’s face. Another chime went off, and the center of the board displayed her face in lights.

“You got it!” Monokuma cheered. “The one who killed Ralph Anderson was none other than Lena Mavenne!”

It still didn’t feel right.

“You all seem quiet!” Monokuma cackled. “Are you all set? Can we do the punishment? Can we?”

Lena smirked at us. “This is your last chance to clear your consciences! You might as well, with nothing to lose!”

“Screw you.” Max spat.

Lena burst out into laughter. “Holding it in until the very end! Hilarious!”

The red button from last time came out of Monokuma’s chair, and he brandished his wooden gavel. “I have prepared a special punishment for the Ultimate Pilot, Lena Mavenne! It’s punishment time!” He slammed the gavel into the button, and the screen above him flashed again.

Blue and white text read “GAME OVER” and an image of Lena was shown on screen. Monokuma came from the left side of the screen, and began to drag her off to the right. The text “Lena has been found guilty. Time for punishment!” was shown under it. The text was quickly replaced. It was just like last time.

  
  


**_Icarus_ **

  
  


Our podiums began to move away from the center of the room, with the text saying “Icarus” being replaced with “Hold on!”. I did what it said, and held on tightly to my podium. Lena’s podium turned around and tossed her into the center of the room.

The floor began to open up below her, with a metal curtain rising around her. After a few seconds, the curtain fell. She was now wearing a sort of backpack. Along with that, her chest was connected to a long pole. It was tilted upwards towards the sky and had to be at least twenty feet long.

Once she was fully revealed, the floor started to move. It wasn’t moving left or right, but upwards. The ceiling above us opened up, and we began to ascend through another elevator shaft. At first it was slow, but as we kept moving, the ground started rising faster and faster. I held on as tightly as I could, and it seemed like everyone else was doing the same.

As we were rising, another ceiling began opening, and light started to shine through .It slowed down before we reached the top, and we were right in front of the cage.

Monokuma revealed a remote, with a singular red button on it. He pressed it, and her backpack started to shoot fire out of it. All of us shot backwards, as the flames spread out across the ground.

Lena didn’t seem to care though. She had a massive smile on her face the whole time.

As the backpack started to push her off the ground, the pole she was attached to began to push her up as well. It was some sort of launcher and helped propel her far into the sky. She opened her arms as she flew upward. Along with the backpack, it didn’t seem like she was going to stop.

But all of a sudden, the sky shattered… I wasn’t sure what I was seeing. Lena had smacked into part of the sky. And a large square surrounding her stopped being sky, leaving part of it empty. Pieces of something started to rain from the area above us. I couldn’t understand what was going on.

Just as quickly as she shot up there, Lena started to fall down towards the academy. By that point she was dead, but it was terrifying the way her body dropped out of the sky. After falling the full way, it landed next to the cage with a horrifying thud.

Some people walked over to the body, but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t see Lena like that. Even after everything that happened. I just couldn’t stomach it. But after all that, she was surely dead.

Monokuma sighed. “She died doing what she loved. Isn’t that what’s important?”

I couldn’t imagine what I was hearing. It was disgusting. Repulsive. I wondered how anyone could be so vile. “Are we done?”

Monokuma tilted his head. “I didn’t mean to offend you, Kai! I was being serious!”

I looked at the floor, not even wanting to give him a response.

“We’re done.”

I walked away from the trial and dropped into my bed. It was too early to sleep, but I didn’t want to be outside. Everything was too overwhelming. I didn’t know what to think.

  
  


~~~

  
  


After a while, there was a knock at my door. I didn’t answer it, because I just didn’t feel like getting up. There was a minute of silence, then Jazz’s voice. “Kai? Are you in there?”

I got out of bed and opened the door for Jazz. She looked concerned, but that vanished from her face when she saw me. “Oh, thank god!”

She walked into my room, and I took a place on my bed. Jazz paced around the room, probably still shaken from everything that had happened. 

“That was crazy.” She shook her head. “I thought she was crazy, but I didn’t think she would actually kill someone…”

I nodded, still unsure what to feel.

“And after she fell…” Jazz winced. “She was still smiling, Kai. It was…awful.”

Hearing that definitely did  _ not  _ help me. To think after all of that… It just made me sick.

There was a silence, and Jazz stopped pacing. She stood at the edge of my room. Jazz wasn’t saying anything, and she wasn’t looking at me.

“Kai?”

“Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you tell me about your lab?”

Her question shocked me back into reality, and the thoughts of Lena were quickly scratched from my brain. “W-Well…” I had nothing to say. What could I say to her? I should have told her…

“Do you not trust me?” The pain in her voice was more than I could handle.

“I trust you! I swear I trust you!”

She turned to me and smiled. “Good/ I was worried…”

I shook my head. “There’s no one in this school I trust more than you!”

Her face got red, and mine did too. We both enjoyed that moment for a second, but then she looked at me. “Well, what is your talent?”

I froze. Could I tell her? Everything in my brain said no. I knew it was a bad idea. Even if I trusted her, I knew that telling her could be the end. She wouldn’t want to be near me anymore. It would be over.

“Kai?” She asked again, the smile drawing from her face.

“I...I…” I couldn’t tell her. I knew I couldn’t do it. It was better to not say anything. I stopped trying to say it, and her expression showed disbelief.

“I thought you trusted me?” 

“I do!”

“Then why won’t you tell me?” She was hurting. I could hear it in her voice. What was the point of not telling her if she was going to be hurt?

Jazz turned towards my door and started to storm out.

Before she could do that, I shouted. “I’m a werewolf!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's Chapter 2! Crazy that we're already moving into the third chapter of the game.
> 
> CH3 is in the works and I'm hoping to come around with it in April / May. Please bookmark if you're interested, or follow my writing twitter (@MrkasWrites) for updates and whatnot.
> 
> Thank you for reading. I hope to see you next chapter!


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